The Fentanyl-Opioid Crisis in Alberta, A Benevolent Approach.

By Glory Okeleke

(AUMA, 2017)

The opioid-dependent population in Alberta comprising both licit and illicit users has inflated eminently over the last few years, noting approximately 21 deaths per day within the first quarter of the year 2022 (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2022). Collectively, what can we as a community attribute as the cause of this radical increase?

Several varying factors have contributed to the deterioration of the opioid overdose crisis through the course of the pandemic and even subsequently after it eased in the province of Alberta. And for the many of us who have loved ones and family members who may be hurting as a result of the rampant opioid-related overdoses, we are driven to devise means to find solutions.

Questions such as ‘where does the need for this substance-reliance stem from?’ and ‘How can I provide support and in what ways can I be of help to them?’ are often asked. The answers and provisions we can start ensuring to those around us facing this ordeal include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Reducing stigma around opioid-related dependency
• Encouraging safe substance usage
• Having bold conversations to create awareness
• Informing audiences and those around us on the forms of harm reduction

To successfully impact this demographic, a cooperative decision has to be made by those seeking help: to employ an empathetic approach, as opposed to a stigmatized approach, one that manifestly vilifies the individuals who face these struggles of substance usage and dependency.

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Harm Reduction Techniques

To kick off with a description of the phrase, Harm-reduction according to the Alberta Health Services (2017), during the AUMA Convention held on “Tackling Alberta’s Opioid Crisis“, can be categorized as any policies, programs, and practices that aim primarily to reduce the adverse health, social, or economic consequences of the use of legal and illegal psychoactive substances without necessarily reducing consumption.

Considering how opioid dependency is now widely acknowledged as a public health crisis in Alberta, some new mechanisms are being strategized to reach this population efficiently. With the primary aims of reducing harm from opioid usage and finding grounds that are accommodating to the individuals dependent on the substance, some of these harm reduction techniques proposed by the AUMA (2017) include:

1. Relieving the Stigma: To facilitate healing, we as a society, need to include people with these lived experiences and commit to engaging with them in purposeful ways. In all of our interactions with individuals facing this plight, our goal should be to make them feel settled and accepted in the communities they live in. We have to always remember that this is not a criminal issue, but a health one and thus should be treated as such.
2. Employ Collaborative Means and Partnerships: Through a collaboration of community organizations, social services, law enforcement agencies and municipal leadership(s), a great deal of elementary work can be augmented to several local communities in Alberta. If actualized, partnerships such as these will be highly advantageous to those dependent on opioids by granting them supervised consumption sites, supplying them with aids and resources such as new needles and naloxone kits, and facilitating the provision of services which offer pharmaceutical-grade supplies.
3. Education: By educating the masses and those in need of bad drug alerts, and information on where to easily access swift help such as supervised consumption sites, beneficial procedures like detox use, long-term addiction treatments, and social and health services referrals will gradually be adopted.

In sum, the AHS proposes a range of harm reduction techniques that assist families and communities to reduce the risk and adverse consequences of substance use and dependency.

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We have to understand that resources and services such as the advised harm reduction techniques above, do not aim to encourage opioid usage in Alberta, but rather, they endeavour to achieve a reduction in the overdose fatality rate recorded in recent years and to improve a safe and orderly usage within the geographic area of Alberta.

References

AUMA, (2017, November). Tackling Alberta’s Opioid Crisis – Alberta municipalities. AUMA Convention. Retrieved December 5, 2022, from https://www.abmunis.ca/sites/default/files/tackling_albertas_opioid_crisis_convention_2017.pdf  

AHS, (2022, September 28). Opioid and stimulant related harms in Canada. Opioid and Stimulant Related Harms in Canada | Public Health Agency of Canada. Retrieved December 5, 2022, from https://health-infobase.canada.ca/substance-related-harms/opioids-stimulants  

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