Alberta doubles down on rehab and recovery approach to treat addictions

Alberta is moving forward with its rehabilitation and recovery strategy to deal with the addictions crisis.

Government data shows more than 1,500 people died from drug poisonings in 2022.

In a mandate letter to Dan Williams, minister of mental health and addictions, released on Wednesday, Premier Danielle Smith called on Williams to accelerate the implementation of the strategy.

Williams spoke with CTV News Edmonton about the mandate on Wednesday.

"The truth is, we need to do something to focus on those who are most vulnerable in the province, and we look at those who are suffering from the deadly disease of addiction," he said.

"I don't believe the right spot for these individuals is in a jail cell. I believe the right spot is getting them the true health care they need, which is recovery treatment."

Williams says the strategy is guided by the government's Recovery Expert Panel, which he says is made up of expert researchers from around the world.

"We look at experts, and I’m not talking about community college experts at places across small communities."

"World renowned experts from all sorts of institutions in Canada and internationally are all part of our expert panel, recovery expert panel, that are giving us advice."

'THE WRONG DIRECTION'

Dr. Darren Markland is an intensive-care unit doctor at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton.

He's been treating overdose victims from all walks of life regularly.

"We're moving in the wrong direction right now," Markland said last week.

He says rehabilitation needs to be accompanied by investments in supportive housing and harm reduction programs, like supervised consumption sites, which the UCP government has been closing.

"Until we treat the underlying problems here, I don’t suspect this is going to get better," he said.

Patrick Black of Boyle Street Community Services says recovery works best when participants can envision a better life for themselves after rehab.

"We’re just seeing kind of not the investment we were hoping for. Especially with the increase of the number of folks that are living on the streets," he said on Tuesday.

Black believes many of his clients will simply end up back on the street under the provincial strategy.

"People have to want to go to treatment and they have to have something to look forward to after going to treatment and completing it. You have to give them a reason to want to get better," he said.

Williams points to needle exchanges, Alberta's overdose prevention app and virtual treatment options as "harm reduction" strategies, and says he is not open to the "safe supply" approach.

"There's no such thing as a safe supply of drugs, hard, opioid drugs. I don't care if it’s coming from a drug dealer, or Justin Trudeau, it’s going to damage our communities, and it’s going to tear that individual's life apart."