Call For Urgent Action On The Drug Poisoning Crisis In Edmonton!

Hello Edmonton and area members and MSTH supporters,

Below you will find a draft of an email ready to send to Edmonton Mayor Sohi and City Council members. Just click on the text below and it should open into an email document for you.

You can edit it before you send it. Make sure to add your name to the bottom of the email.

Thank you for your support!

Dear Mayor and Council,

First of all, let me congratulate you on your recent election win. I know you must have a lot on your plate but I hope to draw your attention to the ongoing drug poisoning crisis that is taking too many lives in our city.

This is very personal to me, as my family has been affected by substance use-related harms. I am a supporter or member of Moms Stop The Harm, which is a coalition of families who mourn a loved one or have a loved one with lived or living experience.  

As the newly elected mayor and councillors of Edmonton, I urge you to take immediate action to prevent further loss of life and to remind you of the following:  

In March of this year, the then Edmonton city council, under the guidance of Scott McKeen, passed a two-part resolution as follows: 

• Part 1 reads: “That the Mayor, on behalf of City Council, write a letter to the Prime Minister asking for the following:

  • that the Federal Government officially recognize the overdose crisis as a national public health emergency;

  • that the Federal Government fund and accommodate overdose prevention programs in Edmonton utilizing pharmaceutical alternatives under medical supervision to illegal street drugs;

  • that the principles of decriminalization within the Government of Canada’s proposed amendments to the Canadian Drug and Substances Act, as proposed in Bill C-22 be enacted by parliament. “

• Part 2 reads: “That Administration engages with the Government of Alberta in regards to Edmonton’s five supportive housing sites to determine their eligibility for designation as therapeutic communities, with addiction treatment that includes pharmaceutical alternatives to illegal street drugs.

Recently released substance use surveillance data [https://www.alberta.ca/substance-use-surveillance-data.aspx] show us that the rate of drug poisoning deaths in Edmonton continues to increase. This could be immediately addressed by re-opening the Boyle Street Community services consumption site with emergency funding from the City of Edmonton. They currently have a  federal exemption, but the province cut their funding. Once that site is open again the city needs to also explore other locations where there is a need for a consumption site, based on neighbourhood-level data for drug poisoning events and emergency response utilization. In planning these services, it is important to provide options for those who use other routes of consumption, such as inhalation, and provide services that meet the needs of this population. Supervised consumption services save lives.

We also know that over 90% of all poisoning deaths are attributed to an increasingly toxic street drug supply, yet iOAT, a program in Edmonton that provides individuals with complex substance use disorder a safe pharmaceutical alternative, is running below capacity and not taking new patients, again because of the provincial government’s ideological interventions. The city must immediately request that the province of Alberta expand its iOAT program to the full capacity and accept new patients.

I hope that Mayor Sohi and the new council members will engage in a conversation with the Federal government and continue to follow the resolution that was passed by the previous council to seek funding for programs to address the drug poisoning crisis. 

The recent civic election and the support that this new council is showing towards the drug poisoning crisis gives me hope that we will see change, which we need because the alternative has more Edmontonian families planning funerals for their loved ones and joining the ranks of the grieving. 

Regards,