“Addiction Care is Health Care”: HSAA Calls for Evidence-Based Response to Escalating Drug Poisoning Crisis

EDMONTON – The Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA) is calling for urgent, evidence-based action to address the Alberta’s escalating drug poisoning crisis and its impact on Alberta’s health-care professionals following the release of a new Parkland Institute report.

The report, “Ripple Effects: The Drug Toxicity Crisis and its Impact on Frontline Health Workers”, shows that more than 10,000 Albertans have died from drug poisonings since 2016. Provincial policies pursuing abstinence-only treatment at the expense of harm reduction services are leaving professionals with fewer tools to save lives, the report concludes.

“This report shines a harsh light on what our members experience every single day. Alberta’s drug poisoning crisis continues to claim lives, overwhelming our emergency rooms and pushing health-care professionals to their limits,” said HSAA Vice-President Leanne Alfaro.

HSAA represents thousands of members on the frontlines of this crisis, including addictions counsellors, social workers, paramedics, and so many others who are responding to overdose calls, treating addictions, and providing often life-saving medical interventions and social supports. HSAA urges the Government of Alberta to accept Parkland’s recommendations to provide greater flexibility, training, education and funding to frontline staff and services.

“Addiction care is health care and it must be delivered with compassion, evidence and urgency. We know harm reduction saves lives. Every Albertan deserves access to care that meets them where they are, not abandons them,” Alfaro added. “Our members are proud to do this work, but they are paying a heavy price. Alberta must listen to the workers on the front lines and start reinstating the programs, tools, staffing and leadership needed to save lives.”

HSAA is calling for the government to accept Parkland Institute’s recommendations and immediately invest in more housing and mental health supports while also reinstating polices that allow for overdose prevention and safe consumption sites where they are needed and broader treatment options that Albertans with addictions can access when they are ready. 

-30-

HSAA Vice-President Leanne Alfaro is available for interviews upon request.

Media Inquiries:  
Matt Dykstra, Communications Officer  
780-224-9202 | mdykstra@hsaa.ca