Overdose Awareness Day Highlights Need to Change Course, Save Lives

Overdose Awareness Day Highlights Need to Change Course, Save Lives

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. Last year, Alberta saw our highest ever number of drug poisoning deaths, with the most recent government data now tallying a devastating 2,069 deaths in 2023.

“This year’s International Overdose Awareness Day comes at a time when Albertans are continuing to die in record numbers from drug poisonings,” said Chris Gallaway, executive director of Friends of Medicare. “This is a heartbreaking crisis. 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’s IOAD comes the day before the September 1 takeover of Recovery Alberta, the new mental health and addictions sector agency split off from Alberta Health Services. Rather than focus on expanding evidence-based addictions care delivery, the Alberta Recovery Model has been used to bolster a system of private, for-profit care, with loose regulations and oversight.

“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. 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 forward with a new crown corporation designed to validate their ‘Alberta recovery model’, and their ill-conceived promise to pass legislation allowing for forced treatment in the coming fall legislative session. 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 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 must 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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