Achi news desk-
Alberta’s toxic drug death toll has been blamed on a worsening “addiction crisis” and “increasing addiction rates for opioids and other substances,” but data shows no increase in substance use disorder rates over the decade last
In most cases, rates of substance use disorders in Canada have actually decreased.
Last year, more Albertans died from drug poisoning than any year on record. In the first 11 months of 2023 alone, there were 1,841 drug poisoning deaths, of which 1,706 were related to opioid use, according to the state’s substance use surveillance system.
Drug poisoning deaths in Alberta have more than doubled since 2019, a devastating trend that provincial officials have consistently equated with a supposed increase in addiction rates.
“We’re talking about an addiction crisis,” Mental Health and Addictions Minister Dan Williams said in a recent interview when addressing the record number of drug poisoning deaths in 2023.
Williams said deaths may continue to rise despite the province’s unprecedented investments in recovery-focused treatment services because “more and more people will, tragically, end up with the deadly disease of addiction.”
The belief that skyrocketing addiction rates are driving drug poisoning deaths is central to Alberta’s response to the crisis, and Williams has said the government is “doubling down on recovery as the only solution.”
But according to data from Statistics Canada, the number of Canadians struggling with substance use disorders isn’t skyrocketing, it’s trending down.
The report on mental disorders and access to mental health care found that the prevalence of alcohol use disorders among Canadians aged 15 or older has decreased from 3.2 per cent of the population in 2012, to 2.2 per cent in 2022. In 2012, 1.3 percent of Canadians reported having a cannabis use disorder, a rate that is almost unchanged in 2022 at 1.4 percent.
Other substance use disorders, which include opioids and other drugs, saw a very small decrease from 0.7 per cent in 2012 to 0.5 per cent in 2022.
“Despite the recent increase in substance-related deaths, the prevalence of substance use disorders did not increase from 2012 to 2022,” read a summary of the report’s findings from StatCan.
“Addiction is kind of a colloquial term that we use to describe when people have problems with drugs and alcohol, but the formal clinical term is substance use disorder,” explained Elaine Hyshka, associate professor and Canada Research Chair in health systems innovation at the University. from the Alberta School of Public Health.
Hyshka said the Alberta government’s framing of drug poisoning deaths has been “wrong.”
“We have no data in the province to suggest that there has been a significant increase in addiction in the last 10 years. What we do know is that the illegal drug supply has fundamentally changed and become more dangerous, more volatile, and more toxic. And that’s why we’re seeing more people die in Alberta. “
During the same period that the rate of substance abuse disorders in Canada fell, from 2012 to 2022, the number of fentanyl-related deaths in Alberta increased by 5,000 percent, according to a study by Dr. Craig Chatterton, chief toxicologist with the Office the Chief Medical Examiner.
The illegal drug supply has become more toxic and dangerous, “and the substances now on sale also give the illegal drug dealers a much higher return on investment. And so that suggests the market is unlikely to change anytime soon,” Hyshka said.
“If we really want to bring the death rate down, we need to have other strategies beyond treatment that help save lives and prevent death.”
Since forming government in 2019, the UCP has moved away from public health approaches to the toxic drug crisis, closing supervised drinking sites in Lethbridge and Edmonton, and earmarking millions to create more places in private addiction treatment centers and public.
Hyshka said programs to support people living with addiction are important, but they are not a primary solution to addressing the overdose epidemic.
Not everyone who uses illegal drugs is addicted, “and therefore there is a significant proportion of the population who would not qualify for or need treatment but are still at risk of dying.” Evidence has also shown that the majority of people with substance use disorders in a given year do not seek treatment.
“I’m concerned that we have a myopic focus on substance use treatment in the province. And until we see more attention to other strategies that we know can prevent death, I worry that we will continue to see an increasing number of people dying of drug overdoses here.”
The Alberta Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions did not respond to questions submitted about rates of substance use disorders in the province.
