No new youth addiction centre as requested by AHS, says Alta. government, despite rise in teen drug poisoning

Despite Alberta's child and youth advocate being concerned more children are dying from drug use, the province shut down a request from its health authority to build a new youth-centric treatment centre earlier this year.

In a Freedom of Information and Privacy Act request, CTV News Edmonton learned that Alberta Health denied a request to fund the construction and operation of a new youth addiction treatment centre.

According to the documents, Alberta Health Services submitted in June 2020 a functional program and infrastructure request for the new centre in Edmonton.

AHS proposed building a 3,000-square-metre residential addiction treatment centre that would house essential detoxification, assessment, counselling, and rehabilitation services for youth aged 12 to 18.

Construction costs were estimated to be between $28 million to $31 million, with staffing and operation costs to be calculated later if the project was selected.

In a major capital business case in favour of the project, AHS noted a different youth addictions treatment facility in Edmonton, the Yellowhead Youth Centre, was scheduled to leave its current site by March 2022 to make way for a children's services ministry project.

It is unknown if the government planned to reopen the Yellowhead Youth Centre at a different location or what it planned to do with the freed-up space.

In a March letter to then-AHS CEO Dr. Verna Yiu, the deputy minister of health, Paul Wynnyk, said the province was considering "alternative ways to deliver addiction and mental health services to Albertans."

"I know our teams are jointly exploring options for enhancements to youth addiction and mental health services, so I look forward to their recommendations going forward," Wynnyk wrote.

In its last budget, the province allocated $55.1 million to the Yellowhead Youth Centre. The fiscal plan says the money, provided over three years, is part of a plan to "redevelop" the facilities at the centre. It is not known if that renovation work has begun.

CTV News Edmonton reached out to the deputy minister's office for further comment.

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'I AM EXTREMELY WORRIED'

Terri Pelton, the child and youth advocate, said she was not made aware of the funding request from AHS to build a new treatment centre in Edmonton, so she declined to comment on the government's rejection of the proposal.

However, she believes the province needs a strategy to address youth overdoses.

According to Alberta Health's Substance Use Surveillance System, 22 people 19 years or younger died of drug overdoses in 2022, including two children under the age of four.

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Between Jan. 1, 2019, and July of this year, 384 Albertans under age 25 have died from opioid-related causes, shows Alberta Health data provided to CTV News Edmonton by the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate.

As of July 31 of this year, 80 people under 25 have died from opioid-related causes.

Pelton called youth drug poisoning a major concern, one she hopes the province takes "more action on."

"I can't even express how concerned I am about this issue," she said. "I am extremely worried."

The last three reviews into child deaths by her office all referenced substance use as a major concern.

In March, the provincial oversight report investigating youth that died while under the care of child intervention services recommended the government develop a strategy focused on youth-specific opioid and substance abuse.

Back in 2018, the Child and Youth Advocate Del Graff completed an investigative review probing youth opioid use in Alberta, coming to a similar conclusion.

"The number of opioid poisonings of young people under 24 years old is alarming," the special report read. "It is imperative that we acknowledge the unique needs of young people. This issue demands that immediate action be taken." 

Pelton called action to prevent fatal overdoses necessary because it could help set youth on a path away from substance abuse.

"Where we are seeing the most deaths is between the age of 15 and 24," Pelton said. "So if you think of a young person's brain development in that age range, the impact of the drugs on their brain are different than on an adult.

"There's an opportunity there to save lives and help young people become successful," she added.

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MEETING YOUTH WHERE THEY NEED HELP

An ideal strategy, in Pelton's view, would include the entire spectrum of care: age-appropriate education for children in schools about drug use, more treatment options, increased access to harm-reduction strategies, and after-treatment follow-up care.

"The young people of today are tomorrow's adults," Pelton said. "So if we are not doing something earlier, we are just going to continue to see both the adult numbers rise and the young people numbers rise."

Pelton also would like any provincial-funded treatments to offer service to young people as soon as they reach out, without conditions that make treatment contingent on sobriety or stable housing.

"(If there are conditions) before they can be admitted to a program, they're lost," Pelton said. "It really is about meeting them when and where they are ready for help."

According to the advocate, Alberta still has to acknowledge her office's recommendation in the mandatory review released last month.

That report was released just days before the province unveiled a $187-million plan to address addictions and mental health issues among adults.

"The government has been silent on our recommendations," she added. "Historically, we have a response within a day or two that they either accept them, or accept them in principle, or don't accept them."

Eric Engler, the mental health and addictions associate minister's chief of staff, said in a statement that children and youth struggling with addiction and mental health is one of the province's "top priorities."

He listed Alberta's virtual opioid dependency program, addiction and mental health services available through AHS, Kids Help Phone, and the Youth Recovery Program at Hull Services and CASA House as programs the province supports.

"This is just a small example of programs that are supported by government," Engler said. "We suggest that anyone seeking mental health and addiction treatment services contact 211."

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Kyra Markov and Amanda Anderson