Purple ribbons, white roses to be placed around Edmonton to honour victims of opioids
Members of Edmonton's medical community are spearheading a movement this weekend to honour lives lost to opioids in and around the city.
Purple ribbons and white roses will be placed around 76 communities in Edmonton, Wetaskiwin and Ponoka.
It's part of opioid memorial weekend, a campaign the Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association hopes will create awareness about the opioid crisis in Alberta.
"We want people to understand that every death, every poisoning death is a preventable tragedy," said Edmonton Medical Zone Association's Dr. Ginetta Salvaggio. "We want that acknowledged."
Each memorial is meant to pay tribute to the neighbourhoods that have lost a community member to that "preventable tragedy."
One local bar owner heard about the cause and felt the need to take part.
"This isn't just happening in the downtown core, this is happening to your neighbor," Darren McGeown told CTV News Edmonton. "Something needs to be done and it starts here in our communities."
"We are seeing an ongoing escalation of opioid poisoning deaths in the Edmonton zone," Dr. Salvaggio said.
According to the Government of Alberta's Substance Use Surveillance System, opioid-related deaths have increased since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The province's statistics show in July of 2019 there were 21 opioid-related deaths in Edmonton. In July of 2020, 59 opioid-related deaths were reported in the city, and 55 were reported this past July.
Last week, a new app designed to save opioid users from overdosing was launched by the province in Edmonton.
The Alberta government said it was also exploring options for new supervised consumption services in "underserved" areas in Edmonton.
Dr. Salvaggio points to the elimination of supervised consumption sites as a cause for the uptick in overdoses, an epidemic she hopes to turn around.
"We are wanting to highlight how broad the reach of this poisoning emergency is."
The Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association says the memorials will be neatly disposed of by the end of the weekend.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter banned from NBA
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter has been handed a lifetime ban from The National Basketball Association (NBA) following an investigation which found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors, the league says.
Attempt to have murder charge quashed against alleged serial killer dismissed by judge
A motion filed by the man accused of killing four Indigenous women in Winnipeg to have one of those murder charges quashed has been dismissed by the judge – weeks before the start of his trial.