OPIOID POISONING COMMITTEE

of the Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association

OCTOBER 4, 2023 UPDATE: The Opioid Poisoning Committee has updated their safer supply recommendation with emerging evidence in 2023 that demonstrates overall benefit and low risk of harm.

View the policy recommendation here.

SEPTEMBER 6, 2023 UPDATE: The Opioid Poisoning Committee releases their “Support for Healing Centered and Indigenous-Forward Approaches to Opioid Poisonings” policy paper.

View the policy recommendation here.

The Opioid Poisoning Committee (OPC) was operational from September 8, 2021 to
April 30, 2022. In 2021, an average of FOUR Albertans were dying every day from opioid poisoning.

The Alberta Opioid Poisoning Crisis

Dr. Elaine Hyshka, Canada Research Chair in Health Systems Innovation and an Assistant Professor in the University of Alberta’s School of Public Health, presented on Alberta's opioid crisis in December 2021.

This session outlines the roots of the current drug poisoning emergency, dispelling simplistic narratives of how it started and what perpetuates it. It provides an overview of current epidemiology and outlines how the pandemic has impacted people who use drugs. Finally, it critiques what has (and hasn't) been done in Alberta to prevent drug poisoning fatalities, and outlines the core components of an evidence-based public health response.

View the presentation here.

Events

The OPC has hosted two events to bring awareness to opioid poisonings in the community.

The Memorial Weekend was from October 13 to 17, 2021 to recognize all the opioid poisoning deaths across most of Edmonton’s neighbourhoods.

Just say KNOW was a contest for Albertan youth to submit art on the issue from February 11 to March 11, 2022. Congratulations to Elliot, age 18, and Winnow, age 15, for winning the $1,000 prize each. View their entries here.

policy recommendations

View the press conference release of these recommendations here.

The ultimate goal in providing these policy recommendations is to prevent drug poisoning deaths and related harms.

We are in support of public investment in all evidence-based addiction and mental health interventions, however, have chosen to focus on current policy gaps for our recommendations.

All recommendations require public funding to ensure accessibility, accountability, and system integration and to reduce stigma.

Our recommendations are formed with an intersectional and anti-oppressive perspective, and acknowledge that some people who use drugs experience inequitable harms and require unique supports (e.g. houseless, racialized, 2S/LGBTQ+, youth, rural populations).

The recommendations herein do not absolve policy stakeholders from addressing the Social Determinants of Health, both positive and negative, which will be equally required.

We respect the body and mind sovereignty of people who use drugs and recommend that all offered supports be tailored to individual needs, goals, and values.

The recommendations herein were developed using available peer-reviewed literature, epidemiology, and iterative input from people who use drugs, their family and friends, and other expert partners. Authors are a multidisciplinary group of physicians. We have no professional or personal material interest in these recommendations and have no conflicts to declare.

The recommendations herein address specific components of a comprehensive response to drug poisoning deaths; they will be most effective if implemented together rather than separately.

The recommendations herein—and the poisoning response more broadly—require a government commitment to sharing timely and local data, accessible to all Albertans, in order to refine the response to adapt to emerging trends.

Updated: October 4, 2023