EDMONTON — Each year, August 31 marks International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD). It is an opportunity to mourn those we have lost, and to refocus our collective work to end overdose and tackle the toxic drug poisoning crisis in our communities. This year’s theme is “25 Years On. Still Needed.”
In the past year, the Edmonton region experienced a record number of calls for opioid related emergency service and a record number of drug poisoning deaths were recorded in the city. Across Alberta, at least 1,437 died of drug poisoning in 2025.
“We recognize International Overdose Awareness Day knowing that every single day, more Albertans are dying from drug poisoning,” said Chris Gallaway, executive director of Friends of Medicare. “This is a heartbreaking crisis. And more so when we understand that every drug poisoning death represents a policy failure. When families and communities gather, they mourn their losses knowing that each of these deaths could have been prevented with proper access to community supports and harm reduction services.”
This year’s IOAD comes just days after Albertans learned Recovery Alberta had abruptly closed crucial voluntary treatment spaces. This continues an ideologically-driven pattern with the Alberta government: they have closed life-saving supervised consumption services (SCS) in the city and elsewhere; they have forged ahead with under-regulated private and for-profit addictions services at expense of public facilities; and they have proceeded with imposing forced treatment, in spite of evidence showing it could result in further harm and more fatalities.
“This government’s so-called ‘recovery-oriented’ approach isn’t about expanding capacity for Albertans in need of support for substance or mental health issues, it’s about accelerating an ideological agenda of privatization through Recovery Alberta, and enabling the growth of the for-profit recovery industry,” said Gallaway. “The truth is, nearly four people die of drug poisoning in our province every single day. Far too much is at stake for this government to continue to ignore the evidence and the full spectrum of addictions care Albertans need during this crisis.”
Experts have repeatedly raised concerns that Alberta’s drug policy is being shaped by flawed research. Additionally, significant concerns have been raised regarding secrecy within the crown corporation CoRE (the Centre of Recovery Excellence), while the Minister has spread flagrant lies about Alberta SCS. An audit of Recovery Alberta by the Auditor General is still underway, announced amid the office's ongoing investigation into the allegations of potential corruption in how health care contracts have been awarded to private surgical companies in Alberta.
“Addictions care is health care, full stop. Albertans need to know that their mental health and addictions services are evidence-based, and are being delivered as part of our public health care system, not simply contracted out to those seeking to profit off of Albertans who are struggling,” said Gallaway. “We urgently need a change of course to ensure that these health care services are being publicly delivered, with proper regulatory oversight, and with the full transparency and accountability that Albertans and their families deserve.”
Friends of Medicare continues to urge Albertans to support our calls for urgent, evidence-based action to save lives in the drug poisoning crisis, and to attend an IOAD event in their community. Find a list events being held in many communities in Alberta and across the country here: overdoseday.com/canada/
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