Coalition blasts province over `Alberta model'
A coalition of Albertans promoting harm reduction is calling on the provincial government to stop the “unjust assault” on services that help prevent overdoses.
Ahead of International Overdose Awareness Day on Tuesday, Albertans for Ethical Drug Policy, a group of peers, professionals, advocates, and people who have lost loved ones to the overdose crisis, said in a joint statement that the UCP government is focusing on their “Alberta model” and closing down supervised consumption services (SCS) despite the fact they help save lives.
In Edmonton, the supervised consumption site at Boyle Street Community Services was closed down last fall, while the George Spady site's hours were expanded to 24 hours. In 2020, North America's busiest supervised consumption service in Lethbridge was closed while the province plans to shutter the Sheldon M. Chumir safe consumption site in Calgary.
“This government's actions clearly reveal their indifference to the staggering death toll and toward people who use drugs — our neighbours, friends, family members, employees, colleagues and community members,” the group said in a statement Monday. “The deaths will continue to rise as a result.”
Between January and May of this year, 624 Albertans died from accidental drug poisoning, a 41-percent increase compared to the same time frame last year.
In 2020, a total of 1,328 Albertans died of drug poisoning, a 155-percent increase from 521 in 2019. There has never been an overdose fatality at a safe consumption site.
Kym Porter, advocacy leader with Moms Stop the Harm (MSTH) and part of the coalition, said in the release MSTH supports a spectrum of harm reduction, from saving lives within an SCS to helping a person live a meaningful life.
“Removing any support within that spectrum equals death,” she said.
Albertans for Ethical Drug Policy is demanding the province take a number of actions to address the drug poisoning crisis.
The demands include retracting the safe consumption site report and reopening closed sites, as well as opening injectable opioid agonist treatment (IOAT) programs to new patients. The coalition says additional supervised consumption sites should be opened in Calgary, Edmonton, Grande Prairie, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and Red Deer, while low-barrier, community accessible drug checking services should be made available.
The group is also calling for funding for harm reduction programs to be reinstated to 2019 levels and IOAT programs expanded, including in correctional facilities.
The coalition is also asking for low barrier access to safe pharmaceutical alternatives to toxic street drugs to be provided and the new regulations for supervised consumption sites should be cancelled.
“The loss of supervised consumption services at this time, when deaths continue to mount, will directly translate to increased drug poisoning morbidity and mortality in Alberta,” said Dr. Bonnie Larson, a professor at the University of Calgary, in the release.
“Excellent scientific evidence supports the efficacy, safety, and cost-effectiveness of supervised consumption. Closing these services represents a violation of my patients' rights to essential, life-saving care.”
In a statement, Eric Engler, press secretary for mental health and addictions associate minister Mike Ellis, said the province is ensuring 4,000 Albertans can access treatment and recovery services annually and free of charge.
“We are increasing access to evidence-based medications for opioid addiction, and we are improving the quality of services that reduce harm before someone enters recovery,” Engler said.
“Alberta's government is spending more in 2021/22 on services that reduce harm than at any time in Alberta's history. The idea that we are engaged in an `unjust assault' on services that reduce harm is outrageous and categorically false.”
Albertans for Ethical Drug Policy is hosting a march and rally for International Overdose Awareness Day. At noon on Tuesday, the march will gather at 103A Avenue and 100 Street, behind city hall, and at 1:30 p.m. the rally will take place at the Alberta legislature.