Fentanyl-related deaths climb in Red Deer

Stacey Carmichael, Executive Director at Turning Point which operates Red Deer’s temporary Overdose Prevention Site (OPS) says community members are dying at an unprecedented rate.

“In my opinion, we have to put our belief systems aside and start doing what is proven to work,” she says. “It takes a whole continuum, and that continuum needs to be whole. It’s not harm reduction or recovery or harm reduction or treatment. Its harm reduction and recovery, harm reduction and treatment. It’s going to take it all to make a dent in this.”

Carmichael describes the numbers across the province as “horrific.”

The Q2 report revealed 449 opioid poisoning deaths in Alberta during the first six months of this year, including 284 related to fentanyl in the second quarter. There were 130 fentanyl-related deaths in the province in January-March.

“It didn’t really come as a surprise because we had heard from the folks that we work with that this was happening,” says Carmichael. “But it was shocking to see it in black and white.”

She acknowledges that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on the number of overdose deaths and the rates at which they’re occurring.

“It changed the services that people had access to. For us here in Red Deer, our overdose prevention site went down to half capacity for a few months. People were encouraged to stay at home and isolate and things that folks were accustomed to accessing weren’t available anymore.”

Looking ahead, Carmichael notes a recent six-month extension granted by the province to continue operating the OPS as a good step forward in getting death rates back down.

“I hope that people will feel more comfortable or feel it’s more necessary to access these services- given the contaminated drug supply that we’re seeing, which has only been worsened during COVID because of changes at the border,” she adds. “We’re seeing a different drug supply and it’s far more toxic.”

Carmichael says the latest report reinforces the need for a continuum of care, not only in Red Deer but in other places as well.

“That includes harm reduction, prevention, treatment, and enforcement. We can’t have one without the other.”

In that respect, the government announced a $140 million investment over four years to implement a new addiction and mental health strategy to improve access to a continuum of services, including $40 million to address the opioid crisis.

Initiatives announced following recent investments of $25 million to build five therapeutic communities throughout Alberta focused on holistic addiction recovery, and more than $53 million for more phone, online and in-person mental health and addiction recovery support.

Carmichael admits that the investments in mental health, addiction, and recovery are excellent, but warns that not all aspects of the crisis are currently being addressed.

“We need to be investing in evidence-based options for people who use opioids when we’re in the middle of an opioid crisis,” she suggests. “But not all the things that we’re talking about doing – fit that bill. We need to ensure that we have that continuum of services in place or it’s not going to get better.”

“The rise in deaths from opioid poisoning is a reminder that the ripple effects of COVID-19 are large, and that we need to continue seeking a balance in our response,” Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, said on Thursday. “We must embrace two needs at once: the need to minimize the impact of COVID-19, and the need to minimize the impact that these restrictions have on the rest of our health.”

by Sheldon Spackman

Fentanyl-related deaths climb in Red Deer

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