Alberta officials announced “record breaking” spending on addiction recovery in the province’s upcoming budget and a new panel of leading international experts to inform Alberta’s recovery-based approach.
“Alberta has emerged as a national leader in building recovery-oriented systems of care for addiction and mental health,” said Nicholas Milliken, minister for mental health and addiction, at the annual Alberta Recovery Conference in Calgary on Feb. 22.
Premier Danielle Smith, who spoke at the conference on Feb. 21, said “Critics say that recovery is not an achievable or realistic goal. … When we say recovery is possible, we’re providing hope and optimism to people who are often living without any hope.”
When the United Conservative Party took power in 2019, she said, annual funding for mental health and recovery was $87 million. She is proposing $275 million in the budget being tabled Feb. 28.
Recovery Communities
Included in that budget is a new $75 million investment in building recovery communities, bringing the total investment in those communities to more than $200 million. Smith described the communities as holistic, long-term facilities “where people have the time to work not only on recovery, but on every part of their lives.”Six are underway already, with the first—in Red Deer—soon ready to welcome its first residents. The budget adds three more communities. The ones in Gunn and Lethbridge are set to open this year.
Smith and Milliken highlighted one being built in cooperation with the Blood Tribe in southern Alberta that combines modern addiction treatment with traditional indigenous culture. Smith said she hopes it becomes a model for more like it.
Strides Forward
Milliken said that, since 2019, the Alberta government has added 10,000 new spaces for detox and addiction treatment, bringing the total up to 29,000. He said some of the greatest strides forward have included eliminating the $40 per day fees for residential addiction treatment and the establishment of the Virtual Opioid Dependency Program (VODP).“If there’s one thing that you can do that can make a serious, huge impact to improve the lives of so many, it’s including a VODP-type system,” he said.
VODP brings treatment to Albertans via a secured video app, offering counseling, opioid dependency nursing, and medications from local pharmacies if needed.
Milliken announced that a panel of 16 experts will be helping Alberta proceed with its addiction-recovery mandates. The panel will be chaired by Dr. Keith Humphreys, a professor of psychiatry and behavioural sciences at Stanford University. He has advised two U.S. presidents on drug policy.
The panel includes public policy experts, psychologists, doctors, indigenous leaders, and justice system experts.
Alberta has deployed task forces aimed at intervention in Edmonton and Calgary in recent months with a combined budget of $187 million. The task forces include four cabinet ministers, police, health officials, indigenous leaders, and more. They are also establishing a police-health hub model where health services and the justice system work together.
Recovery and Harm-Reduction
Premier Smith’s chief of staff and a former addict, Marshall Smith, also spoke at the conference on Feb. 21. “Focusing on recovery means sustained action addressing inherent biological, social, and spiritual disturbances, aiming to improve quality of life by seeking balance and healing in all aspects of health and wellness, and a consistent pursuit of a drug-free life,” he said.Smith said Alberta is four years into an endeavour that will take at least eight. It’s about what Alberta’s communities will look like in 2030, he said.
Data collection is underway to analyze how Alberta’s recovery-oriented approach is doing. Smith said the Alberta Substance Use Surveillance System will soon be online and anyone can access the data. It will track treatment admissions, wait time averages, and outcomes, while withholding individuals’ personal information.
He gave a sample, showing a chart that tracks emergency department visits related to substance abuse. In the third quarter of 2021, Alberta saw a peak of about 4,100 visits. This was related to the pandemic, Smith said. By the third quarter of 2022, visits were back to pre-pandemic levels at about 2,500 visits.
Smith said harm reduction—which generally aims to help addicts use drugs safely but not necessarily stop using—is part of Alberta’s approach. But Alberta’s end goal is recovery and its harm-reduction methods are heavily regulated.
The number of safe-use spaces has not decreased since 2019, he said. The government closed one but opened another. Alberta has more stringently ensured quality by, for example, making sure staff are well-trained and have had criminal record checks, Smith said.
As a result, “the number of times ambulances have had to be called to supervised consumption sites has all but cratered.”
Other Initiatives
He highlighted other Alberta programs, such as the establishment of recovery centers on all 26 post-secondary campuses in the province. Some recovering addicts withdraw from higher education because the campus culture involves a lot of alcohol and drug use, Smith said.Counselling Alberta connects people with counselors almost instantaneously. He said if you call in the morning, you'll have your first counselling session by the afternoon.
Milliken highlighted the “made-in-Alberta” Digital Overdose Response System. Drug users press a “start” button on the app when they are using alone. About 70 percent of overdoses happen when people are alone, he said.
A timer counts down. It can be extended or cancelled, but if it runs out and the user doesn’t respond, a response centre will call to check in or send medical assistance if there’s no response.
Milliken said the Alberta government has become a national leader on addiction recovery “by working with community partners from across the province to transform a system that was previously unaffordable, inaccessible, and had too many barriers and gaps.”
