Province’s move toward safe injection sites to be applauded

The provincial government's announcement Thursday of funding to establish safe, supervised sites for opioid use is absolutely commendable, but unfortunately also like closing the barn door after the horse has bolted when it comes to the ever-growing crisis of fentanyl and opioid addiction and deaths in Alberta.

From January 2015 to the end of June this year there were 427 deaths in Alberta associated with the highlyaddictive and deadly opioid, fentanyl. Of those, 21 were in the South Zone. The increase has been dramatic, even spiralling.

That's not to say the province hasn't stuck its head in the sand.

Since the launch of the take-home naloxone kit program began in July 2015, more than 6,018 kits have been given out and more than 408 overdose reversals have been reported back to AHS — as the medical officer for the Calgary Zone told the Medicine Hat News earlier this month, that's a "dramatic underestimate."

That's more than 400 times someone hasn't had to bury a loved one.

Thursday's announcement also stated that the government would be expanding access to opioid replacement therapy, and will work with doctors to improve prescription drug monitoring. The province has also funded new treatment spaces in the province this past year, yet the average wait to access addiction-related residential treatment beds is 20 days in Alberta. Medicine Hat's own detox centre has a constant wait list. The current funding levels simply aren't enough.

Addictions and mental health, poverty and disability issues are often deeply intertwined — and yet there remains so many hurdles that keep vulnerable people from getting the supports and treatment they need. And where there's addictions, there's inevitably involvement with law enforcement and the judicial system. The expansion of drug treatment courts across the province, beyond Calgary and Edmonton, would be of great benefit.

Like the take-home naloxone kits, it's easy to take a knee-jerk reaction to the idea of safe, supervised sites for those with addictions to use opioids, seeing them as dangerous, thinking they'll encourage more drug use because the harm is reduced.

But if people with addictions had the ability to follow these sort of logical solid cost-risk analysis assessments, well … they wouldn't be addicts.

Evidence-based research shows that safe injection sites are a net positive in reducing harm not just for addicts, but for the public purse and communities — you don't even have to hold any compassion in your heart for those with addictions to appreciate that.

An addict is going to try to get high, whether it's at a flophouse that causes harm to a neighbourhood or a safe injection site where they can at least have access to social, healthcare workers and other supports that could maybe, just maybe help them go down a better path. And there is always hope. There are people who still manage to live day after day sober, despite having an addiction. They can't do it alone.

It's absolutely frustrating that the evidence-based research done around these sort of sites has been around for numerous years, and it's only now that the death tolls pile up that more significant action is being taken. It may save lives, but that does little to stem the heartbreak over those whose lives have already been lost.