'Grim reality': More Alberta youth dying from opioids, says report by child and youth advocate
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A record number of Albertans under 25 died from accidental opioid poisoning last year, and the province is on track to surpass that peak, says a report from the child and youth advocate.
The report, released by child and youth advocate Del Graff on Wednesday morning, says 95 young people under 25 died last year as a result of accidental opioid poisoning, exceeding the previous peak of 85 deaths in 2017. Twenty-two deaths were reported in the first two months of this year, and if that pace continues the province will surpass the 2020 numbers, the report says.
Graff said the opioid crisis has gotten worse since the release of a similar report in 2018.
“An increasingly toxic and unregulated drug supply, combined with persistent gaps in prevention, intervention, and recovery supports, is endangering Alberta’s young people,” he said in the report.
“The grim reality is that our young people are dying in even greater numbers today than when we brought this issue into focus nearly three years ago.”
Graff recommends the creation of a panel, committee or commission to create a strategy that would see youth receive a more comprehensive and coordinated range of services to address opioid and substance use.
“This strategy ought to encompass a continuum of services spanning primary prevention, early intervention, harm reduction, treatment, and aftercare,” the report says.
“Agreements or memorandums of understanding around how the strategy will inform the policies and practices of youth-serving ministries and agencies should be established.”
It also calls for the strategy to include a clear focus on Indigenous young people.
Graff was unavailable for an interview Wednesday. Terri Pelton, executive director at the advocate’s office, said that having a strategy specifically targeting youth is “critical” to halting the pace of opioid deaths the province is facing.
“There’s lots of energy and people who really have a desire to help make things better but without some sort of plan everybody’s kind of off doing their own thing,” she said.
She said working with young people early on is a way to get ahead of the growing opioid crisis happening across the country.
“Young people aren’t the same as adults and they really do need a strategy tailored to their needs. If we don’t meet them where they’re at, we’re going to continue to see young people die,” she said.
Jason Luan, Alberta’s associate minister of mental health and addictions, said the advocate’s call for a youth-specific panel is similar to the addictions and mental health strategy the province is currently working on.
“Within that (strategy) the youth has been recognized as one of the priority areas,” he said Wednesday.
“We’re talking about having a sector initiative, having committees or some sort of steering group to oversee that. I see that (as) very similar to what this report was talking about.”
Justin Marshall, Luan’s press secretary, said the government will have more to say about its plan “in the coming months.”
NDP mental health and addictions critic Lori Sigurdson said she would be willing to sit on any commission or panel that is created.
“We know that there’s an emergency right now and we need a plan for youth as we need to plan for everyone,” she said.
Last week the NDP released its proposed plan to help curb the opioid crisis. It includes calling for the expansion of safe consumption sites and a safe supply of drugs.
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