Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley said the government ruled out using harm reduction to solve the opioid crisis in 2019. Rather than care about harm reduction, Notley said the Alberta government has put a sole focus on recovery. “Now we support recovery, but five years later, both harm reduction and recovery are stagnating,” said Notley in a Monday speech during Question Period in the Alberta Legislature. “Between January and November last year, 1,841 Albertans died from drug poisonings.” She alleged the opioid crisis is getting worse. She asked how Alberta Premier Danielle Smith can defend a strategy that is failing and costing lives after five years. Smith responded by saying Notley was incorrect. “We do harm reduction,” said Smith. “We do have safe consumption sites.” To ensure people with opioid addictions have a safe supply of the drugs they need and transition to better options, she said the Alberta government has set up pain medication clinics. Eight thousand people have signed up for the Virtual Opioid Dependency Program (VODP). As time has gone on, she said the VODP has become more successful. She added it does harm reduction and recovery. While Smith says she cares about harm reduction, Notley pointed out Alberta Mental Health and Addictions Minister Dan Williams calls it harm production. “The government is pathological in its presentation of manipulated stats,” she said. “Non-pharmaceutical opioids like fentanyl cause roughly 90% of substance-related deaths in Alberta.” Since 2018, she said these deaths have risen by 150%. She questioned why Smith will not increase funding for harm reduction. Smith said she and Notley agree they need massive amounts of funding in harm reduction and recovery. “That is exactly what we’re doing,” she said. “Funding for services that reduce harm have increased more than 60% since 2019.” The NDP spent $22 million on harm reduction, but the United Conservative Party has allocated $36 million to it. Naloxone kits are available for free at 2,000 locations across Alberta. The Digital Overdose Response System is a mobile app the Alberta government funded to send emergency alerts when people start using drugs. It has created narcotic transition services. At Alberta UCP fundraisers, Notley said Smith “demonizes harm reduction as a political tool.” “Meanwhile, saying the word recovery over and over doesn’t make it real,” she said. Across Alberta, she said the number of people dying is growing. While the Alberta government has committed to funding 11 recovery communities, she said it has opened two of them. She said this is not a political issue. She called for her to increase harm reduction and recovery efforts to save lives. Smith said the difference “is that we support recovery and they don’t.” “And we know that they don’t because when they were in power, they had a user fee for people to access addiction support of $1,200 per month,” she said. When the UCP formed government, she said it eliminated the user fee to ensure more people can access treatment. Additionally, she acknowledged the 11 recovery communities it promised are opening up. She said it will have four correctional units with on-site treatment, with two offering it now. She repeated it is spending money on harm reduction and treatment. Smith said at the Recovery Capital Conference on Wednesday mental health and addictions used to be an afterthought at the policy table. READ MORE: Smith says Alberta government busy fighting addictions crisisHowever, she said her government has given mental health and addictions priority status by refocusing efforts and establishing a ministry dedicated to it. “And we’ve been busy,” she said.
