Decriminalize hard drugs, Liberal MLA suggests

Liberal MLA David Swann is calling for decriminalization of hard drugs in the face of the ongoing opioid crisis in Alberta.

The Calgary-Mountain View MLA, a physician, said individuals in possession of drugs such as cocaine, fentanyl and heroin should receive help, not jail time.

“You would perhaps go to a treatment centre, to a physician or counsellor. You’d get social support if you’re homeless. You’d hopefully get a response that is going to lead to at least the possibility of help and healing,” said Swann in an interview Thursday.

People who sell drugs would still face criminal charges, said Swann, the Liberals’ sole MLA and former party leader. Swann said he’s come around on the issue in light of the high number of continuing opioid deaths in Alberta.

The most recent interim report from the province says there were 228 overdose deaths connected to fentanyl between Jan. 1 and May 6. There were 236 deaths related to carfentanil in Alberta in that same period.

Swann said he’s also been influenced by the experience of Portugal, which decriminalized drugs at the turn of the century. Rates of overdose deaths and HIV and hepatitis infection have dropped.

There is a growing debate around the issue in Canada, with Toronto’s top health official recently advocating for decriminalization.

Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is the most prominent Canadian politician to call for decriminalization of possession of all drugs.

Swann wants the provincial NDP government to lobby Ottawa on the issue and said he too will push the federal government to look at decriminalization.

While the Liberal government is legalizing cannabis in October, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has rejected the idea of decriminalization of other drugs, even as delegates to the federal Liberal party convention backed the idea in April.

Laura Ehrkamp, press secretary to provincial Health Minister Sarah Hoffman, said the NDP government is focused on expanding treatment and supervised consumption services as it deals with the opioid crisis.

“As the issue of decriminalization of drugs falls under federal jurisdiction, it is not something we’re considering in our approach,” Ehrkamp said in a statement.

But Swann said the NDP government needs to put more resources toward addiction services and he reaffirmed his long-standing call for the province to declare a public health emergency in relation to the opioid issue.

Fire crews in Calgary treated a record number of people who overdosed on opioids last month.

The fire department logged 144 opioid overdose calls in July, the most it says it has had in one month. That’s 20 per cent more than the 121 calls it responded to a year earlier and up 450 per cent from July 2016, when it responded to 25 opioid overdose calls.

“That’s a lot of people in distressing circumstances. These 144 calls are individuals who are in a bad way in terms of resorting to overdosing, regardless of whether that’s deliberate or accidental,” said Calgary Fire Chief Steve Dongworth.

“So for anyone who cares about this community, I think it’s a concern. If you extrapolate that number to the number of people in a year, that’s a lot of people we’re seeing in distress, having overdosed on opioids.”

Along with EMS, Calgary fire crews respond to serious medical calls, such as those involving severe trauma or bleeding, unconsciousness, cardiac arrest or difficulty breathing. In 2017, 45 per cent of all Calgary fire calls were lifethreatening medical emergencies.

Firefighters responding to opioid overdose calls administer Narcan to patients, the nasal form of naloxone, which can reverse the effect of the overdose.

The department first started using naloxone in 2016 and last year the firefighters responded to more than 1,100 overdose patients, using the temporary antidote 318 times.

Calgary fire says it has administered naloxone to an average of one patient every day this year.

Other months in 2018 have also set records, according to the fire department. It says it responded to 139 calls in March and 134 in January.

Before April 2015, Calgary fire crews never responded to more than 10 opioid calls in one month.

“It’s just the proliferation and the availability of opioids such as fentanyl. We know this,” Dongworth said.