UCP earns poor grade on opioid fight, poll finds

Half of Albertans say the United Conservative government is doing a poor job of addressing spiking opioid overdose deaths in the province, according to a new poll.

The Angus Reid Institute conducted two surveys for a study on the opioid crisis, one of which polled 5,003 Canadians in mid-november and another with 1,601 participants in January. About 10.5 per cent of respondents were from Alberta.

About 70 per cent of respondents said opioid-related issues have worsened over the past year, and in every province except Quebec, residents indicated they were “deeply unsatisfied” with the provincial government's handling of the crisis.

“A mere three per cent of Canadians say their provincial government is doing a `very good' job in dealing with drug use and addictions, while one-quarter (23 per cent) say they 're handling it well,” the report states. “Half say their province is doing either a poor job (30 per cent) or very poor job (22 per cent).”

In Alberta, 50 per cent of respondents from the province indicated the United Conservative Party was doing a “poor” or “very poor” job. A combined 33 per cent said the government's response was “good” or “very good,” while the remainder said they were unsure.

Despite skyrocketing overdose deaths across the country during the COVID-19 pandemic — with more than 1,000 fatalities in Alberta alone last year — the poll suggests the issue has suffered from a “deficit of attention.”

“While advocates plead for help, huge portions of a formerly attuned Canadian public have, at least temporarily, changed the channel. Unchanged and growing, however, is the impact of opioid usage, both direct and indirect, on millions of Canadians,” reads the study.

“Despite these troubling statistics, recent data indicate that the number of Canadians who say they are following this issue closely has plummeted, down 26 percentage points from early 2019.”

A majority in each province indicated support for the decriminalization of illicit drugs, with the exception of Saskatchewan and New Brunswick, where nearly half expressed support.

The federal government recently said it is considering decriminalization to rein in overdose deaths, and Health Canada is discussing plans put forward by Vancouver officials to decriminalize simple possession of illicit drugs.

Experts suggest such a move could decrease stigma and help encourage people who use drugs to seek treatment.

Decriminalization is not being explored in Alberta.

Premier Jason Kenney and his government are focused on a recovery-oriented approach and have been critical of harm reduction services such as supervised drug-consumption sites, which Kenney has said “facilitate addiction.”

In general, Canadians are supportive of increased access to supervised drug-use sites, but support varies significantly when it is broken down between political parties. In Alberta, for example, 85 per cent of NDP voters are in favour of supervised consumption sites compared with just 25 per cent of UCP supporters.

NDP and UCP supporters also vary greatly in their support of decriminalization and getting “tough” on people who use drugs, with the majority of NDP voters supporting the former and rejecting the latter. It's the opposite for UCP voters.

The most-supported approach of the four listed on the survey was compulsory treatment for users, backed by people across the political spectrum.