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 IOAD comes just weeks after the Edmonton region hit an all-time monthly high for drug poisoning deaths.
“We recognize International Overdose Awareness Day this year 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, made more so because every drug poisoning death represents a policy failure. When families and communities gather this weekend, they’ll have to mourn their losses knowing that each of these deaths would have been avoidable with proper access to community supports and harm reduction services.”
This year, IOAD also comes exactly one year after the Recovery Alberta takeover of the mental health and addictions sector agency. Rather than focus on expanding evidence-based addictions care, the Alberta Recovery Model has been used to bolster a narrow system of private, for-profit treatment, with loose regulations and oversight.
The Auditor General is now auditing Recovery Alberta, which follows the office's ongoing investigation into the allegations of potential government corruption in how health care contracts have been awarded to private companies.
“What the government is doing 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. “All of the decisions being made about our health care need to be based on the best medical evidence, not politics. Four people die of drug poisoning in this province every day. Too much is at stake for this government to continue to ignore the full spectrum of care Albertans need during this crisis.”
Beyond Recovery Alberta, the government continues to move with their ill-conceived plan for forced treatment, having passed new legislation and announced an expensive plan to spend hundreds of million dollars on building two forced treatment facilities. They have continued to ignore the concerns of advocates, health care workers and experts who warn that a one-size-fits-all, abstinence-only approach will continue to perpetuate harm among Albertans at risk of drug poisoning, and put undue pressure on our health care system.
“Addictions care is health care, full stop. Albertans need to know that their mental health and addictions services are being delivered as part of our public health care system, not contracted out to the lowest bidder 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 encourage Albertans to support our calls for urgent, evidence-based action to save lives in the drug poisoning crisis, and to attend an event in their community.
You can find a list of International Overdose Awareness Day events being held in many communities in Alberta and across the country here: overdoseday.com/canada/
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