Critics blast UCP for halting virtual overdose intervention program
Harm reduction advocates are calling on the government to reverse its 11th-hour decision to halt a virtual overdose response program, saying the move exposes the United Conservative Party’s deeply ingrained bias against such life-saving services.
Alberta Health Services planned to launch the phone-based supervised consumption project Friday morning. But Jason Luan, associate minister of mental health and addictions, asked AHS to hit pause Thursday afternoon, saying the program was “frankly dangerous.”
Luan also cited concerns about “patient safety.”
Dr. Rebecca Haines-saah, a University of Calgary professor who specializes in substance use and harm reduction, said it’s “heartbreaking” and “worrisome” to see this project halted as overdose-related calls for service are spiking and carfentanil, a potent opioid 100 times more potent than fentanyl, is circulating in the province.
The pilot project would have lasted three years after AHS received funding from the Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Health System (PRHIS) to develop the program.
Haines-saah said getting funding through PRHIS is a rigorous and highly competitive process. She said the project would have gone through extensive peer review and operational review through AHS before it was given the green light.
“I can’t see there being high risk. I just don’t think it would have gone forward and had the support of EMS and corporate partners if there was any concern about risk,” she said.
The City of Calgary, Telus, the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, people with lived experience of drug use, and experts in mental health, health care and addictions, all collaborated on the virtual supervised consumption project.
“I think if people were concerned, they wouldn’t have signed on initially,” said Haines-saah.
Luan declined to comment on Friday.
On Thursday, he questioned whether the “use of illicit narcotics while on the phone with a peer support worker” was an appropriate medical intervention. Luan said it was unclear how long operators would remain on the line and at what point they would dispatch medical services.
In a statement on Friday, AHS said the pilot project included “clear protocols for client engagement and monitoring” and the study would determine its “safety profile.”
“The government is working with us as we continue to ensure the safety of the study for Albertans and that the most appropriate metrics and evaluation measures are in place to assess value to Albertans,” AHS said.
They said the service would have offered a “full spectrum of addiction and mental health supports, including recovery-oriented services.”
Heather Sweet, NDP Opposition critic for mental health and addiction, said it’s clear Luan is “politically meddling in a clinical program” with no expertise to back up his decision.
“We know that Minister Luan and Premier (Jason) Kenney have a personal prejudice against people who use substances,” said Sweet. “They have focused only on recovery and they are ignoring the whole spectrum of addiction. People will ultimately die if they don’t allow these programs to continue.”
The Alberta-first virtual overdose response project would have connected clients to a peer operator tasked with monitoring them after substance use and dispatching emergency medical services if necessary.
It was geared toward suburban and rural drug users, beyond the vicinity of a fixed supervised consumption site. Around 80 per cent of overdose fatalities occur within the home, according to a government report on opioid-related deaths in 2017.
Premier Jason Kenney said on Friday he was “not aware” of the virtual overdose response project that his government paused Thursday. Instead, he said decisions regarding treatment and services for people struggling with addiction will be “forthcoming.”
“We’ve already invested tens of millions of dollars in creating thousands of additional treatment beds across the province,” said Kenney. “We really think that’s the best way to help people who are struggling with addictions, to give them a way out of the destructive drug addictions that often ruin their lives.”
He referenced the government-ordered review of supervised consumption sites across Alberta, which he said was “developed by experts based on data.” That report, which detailed an alleged “system of chaos,” was released in early March.
Many scientists and academics have questioned the merit of this report, calling into question its data collection, analysis and perceived findings. More than 40 people with diverse health care and research expertise have asked the government to retract its report.
The UCP government has yet to update Albertans on its plans for supervised drug-use sites in the province.