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By Regan Tate

Opioid deaths dropped significantly in March

Jun 3, 2022 | 10:15 AM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – There is some encouraging news in the battle against opioid-related fatalities in Alberta.

The number of people who died from an opioid-related overdose in March dropped 31 per cent since peaking in December of 2021 where 175 deaths were recorded. In March, 120 died from opioids, the lowest number since April of 2021.

Jurisdictions across North America have been dealing with record-high rates of opioid-related fatalities since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and related public health restrictions.

Mike Ellis the associate minister of mental health and addictions says “we hope to see fatality rates continue to decline as we recover from the pandemic and continue to implement strategies to address the addiction crisis.”

According to Emergency Medical Services (EMS) opioid related responses for the week of May 23, 2022 were the lowest on record since the first week of April 2021.

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Alberta’s government is focused on increasing access to a range of prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery services. The system involves a coordinated network of government and non-profit partners working to improve outcomes for Albertans.

Work is already underway to build a recovery-oriented system of care and increase access to services. Actions to date include:

• Establishing 8,000 new publicly funded addiction treatment spaces and eliminating daily user fees so residential treatment is free.
• Introducing recovery communities, also known as therapeutic communities, to Alberta to provide holistic treatment to individuals experiencing addiction. Communities have been announced in Gunn, Red Deer, Lethbridge and on the Blood Tribe First Nation.
• Implementing licensing and quality standards for supervised consumption services to help ensure clients are better connected to the health-care system, to improve the quality of services that are being offered to people with addiction, and to improve community safety.
• Supporting services to reduce harm, such as the development of the Digital Overdose Response System (DORS) app, the introduction of a nasal naloxone pilot, expansion of opioid agonist therapy and fully covering the cost of the injectable opioid treatment drug Sublocade.
• Ensuring opioid addiction treatment on demand is available through the Virtual Opioid Dependency Program. Albertans anywhere in the province can get same-day access to evidence-based opioid agonist therapy (OAT) medications with no wait-list and no fees.
• Continuing work with police services and fire services to improve Albertans’ connection to recovery supports, including the Virtual Opioid Dependency Program, and providing first responders with the support they need to help respond to Albertans experiencing addiction and mental health challenges. This includes the implementation of the digital mental health tool HealthIM.