Article content

The province said Wednesday it will activate 4,000 drug treatment spaces with a $100-million commitment to fight the lethal opioid crisis.

The money, which will be spent over four years, will be fortified by another $40 million for programs to counter often fatal opioid addictions, Premier Jason Kenney told a gathering of treatment and recovery experts in Calgary.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Alberta commits $140 million to battle opioid epidemic, including 4,000 drug treatment spaces Back to video

While he said safe-consumption sites now under review by his government have their place, ensuring drug users leave their addictions behind is crucial and was ignored by the previous government for too long.

“Despite this proven success of this proven treatment, it’s been crowded out by ineffective addiction management,” he told conference attendees, who responded with a standing ovation.

“Harm-reduction efforts certainly have their place but not at the expense of life treatment and recovery . . . We should not be cherry-picking the approach.”