IT’S TIME TO DECLARE EMERGENCY

In a rare show of unity, Alberta’s four opposition parties came together on Monday to call on the NDP government to declare a state of emergency in response to the province’s deadly opioid crisis.

They are right to demand an elevated response to a public-health epidemic that killed at least 343 people in Alberta last year, fuelled by fentanyl.

The provincial government rebuffed the request yet again. It insists that following British Columbia’s lead in declaring a state of emergency offers no practical benefits or extra resources to fight an addictions and mental health issue. They are also correct.

Such is the messy, complex nature of this crisis that there’s merit in both viewpoints.

Alberta’s government says B.C. had to declare a state of emergency to access tools that Alberta already has available, such as data collection. B.C.’s emergency declaration in April 2016 allowed health regions across that province to share information.

“We’re fortunate that that is not the case because we have one health system in Alberta through AHS (Alberta Health Services),” Health Minister Sarah Hoffman said recently.

Alberta health emergencies are geared toward infectious disease outbreaks and give government power to quarantine people and enter private homes. It’s the wrong tool for the job, the NDP argues. Ministries are already working to address the crisis and they are consulting with medical and front-line workers to shape the ongoing response. The government also supports harm-reduction strategies such as opioid treatment and supervised injection sites.

But opposition politicians, some health practitioners and citizens’ groups are outraged and baffled by the government’s apparent lack of action. Interim Liberal Leader David Swann has stated that if some disease was killing Albertans at the same rate as opioids, the government would launch an immediate response.

Swann and his opposition colleagues want a proactive plan to deal with the epidemic, more emergency care beds and better leadership.

The government is right that a state of emergency is merely a symbolic gesture, but in a crisis such as this, that gesture carries its own weight and power. As Rosalind Davis, who lost her partner to a fentanyl overdose, told journalists, when the government doesn’t act it perpetuates the stigma that surrounds addictions.

Declaring a health emergency creates a broader discussion and expands awareness about an affliction that’s been left in the dark too long.