'Extremely worried' about opioids, Trudeau welcomes Edmonton drug decriminalization pitch

One of the first orders of business when Justin Trudeau arrived in Edmonton Monday night was to meet with the mayor, where they spoke about the opioid crisis that is killing hundreds of people in the city every year.

"The reality is here in Alberta we've seen far too many tragedies around the opioid epidemic," the prime minister told reporters Tuesday.

"I had a great conversation with mayor Sohi about it last night when I got into town and I can tell you that he and all of us are extremely worried about what Albertans are going through on the opioid epidemic."

Hours before that meeting, Edmonton city councillors pushed forward an effort to decriminalize "simple personal possession" of illegal drugs in an attempt to "reduce drug-poisoning injuries and deaths."

More than 1,700 drug-toxicity deaths were recorded in Alberta last year and 624 of those were in Edmonton - the highest yearly totals on record.

"We have a crisis in our streets, we have a crisis in our homes. There’s a lot of pain out there, there’s a lot of trauma caused by this," Sohi said Monday.

A council committee voted 5-0 to prepare a plan that includes "safe supply, safe consumption sites, treatment and supportive housing," in addition to lobbying Ottawa for an exemption on possession laws.

The committee heard from a number of health professionals and advocates in support of decriminalization, including a woman whose son died of Fentanyl poisoning in 2014, just blocks away from City Hall.

"We need them to feel safe to reach out for help, but fear and stigma prevent that. Nothing stigmatizes like a criminal record. It impacts where people can live, what they can study, where they can work, travel, and who they might enter a relationship with," Petra Shultz said.

There were also concerns that the policy shift may encourage open drug use.

"I actually witness it myself often, seeing drug use in the open, and again that has been brought forward to me from constituents," said Coun. Karen Principe.

Trudeau didn't make any promises on approving decriminalization, but he said he'd consider it along with other applications from across Canada.

"We will welcome their application when it comes in…We're already working with the government of British Columbia on a similar issue and we're going to make sure we're grounded in science, grounded in supporting people," he said.

"We know that science-based, community-based solutions are a huge part of it. That's why, as a government, we've continued to push for safe consumption sites. It 's unfortunate to see that Alberta seems to be going in the opposite direction."

In the past few months, Alberta officials have announced plans to study the "safe supply" of opioids, pay for Sublocade injections and offer addiction treatment access in jails, in an effort to combat the opioid crisis.