Alberta Health employs multi-faceted response to provincial opioid crisis

At the provincial level, Alberta Health has enacted a multifaceted response to the opioid crisis in Alberta.

An important part of that response has been the formation of the Minister’s Opioid Emergency Response Commission.

Part of the mandate for the commission is to provide recommendations to the provincial health minister regarding timely co-ordinated actions to address opioid use and related issues.

To date, the commission has provided more than 30 recommendations to the health minister, including funding for consumption sites, clearing red tape for Opioid Agonist Treatments such as methadone and Suboxone, supporting Indigenous response efforts, and taking part in community engagement and information.

Alberta Health has also done extensive work tracking some of the harm caused by opioid abuse.

It has been providing quarterly reports on the opioid crisis since March 2015, when it began formally responding to the crisis.

Alberta Health works to achieve harm reduction through development of policies, strategies, services and practices aimed at helping people be safe and lead healthy lives. Harmreduction strategies can include peer and outreach supports, needle distribution, drug substitution programs such as methadone and Suboxone, and supervised consumption services.

Finally, $1.4 million has been made available to provide opioid public awareness grants for communities. This funding goes toward education efforts in regards to the opioid crisis.

Twenty-nine projects were funded in order to develop unique and creative ways to reduce stigma around opioid use, provide information on treatment and naloxone kits, and educate people on how they could potentially save the opioid users in their lives.

Locally, the province recently highlighted a number of supports for the Lethbridge area specifically, including $2.6 million for the expansion of the supervised consumption site, emergency funding of $80,000 to help with needle collection, additional disposal boxes, and an expansion to needle pickup programming.

The province has also provided $1.9 million for the construction of eight medical detox beds at Chinook Regional Hospital. Those beds are set to open this fall.

New funding has been made available for community-based awareness projects, including $100,000 to Alberta Addicts who Educate and Advocate responsibly.

The province is also working with the City to strengthen frontline supports.