Alberta exceeds the yearly record for most drug poisoning demises

Key takeaways: 

• Advocates state priority on harm decline is urgently required.
• In the foremost 10 months of 2021, Alberta has already reached the prior year’s record a high number of drug poisoning casualties.

Alberta surpasses deaths by drug poisoning: 

Casualties by drug poisoning in Alberta for 2021 are the most elevated on record, getting numbers that one harm decrease advocate states are worse than worried.

This week the regional government revised its substance use management data, counting 156 drug poisoning fatalities in September and 153 in October, getting the count for the foremost 10 months of 2021 to 1,372. 

“I expected it to be bad but this is just staggering,” stated Petra Schulz, co-founder of the association Moms Stop The Harm. Source – cbc.ca

In 2020 — earlier the most lethal year for drug poisoning — a total of 1,351 Albertans died.

The region also released a new report on the excessive results drug poisoning is holding on First Nations individuals in the region. Though they account for six per cent of the residents, First Nations individuals meant 22 per cent of all opioid poisoning casualties in 2020, up from 14 per cent in 2016.

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In a press release revealing the digits Wednesday, Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Mike Ellis said Alberta is not isolated in visiting opioid overdoses increase.

“This trend is being seen in other jurisdictions, including British Columbia where 201 suspected overdose deaths were recorded in October alone,” Ellis stated. Source – cbc.ca

Regional plan

Ellis stated there is no one answer to the problem but suggested Alberta’s actions to create a “comprehensive recovery-oriented system of care” as the way ahead. 

Alberta spread further treatment beds and approved the public budget of injectable opioid addiction treatment among other actions as a component of its plan.