Article content continued

Supervised consumption sites are preventative rather than reactive. They prevent overdoses and prevent overdose-related deaths or complications. Because of this, they reduce health-care utilization and costs. Most importantly, they keep people alive. Evidence from more than 150 sites across the world has shown us that it is better to invest in prevention of overdoses rather than reacting to overdoses after the fact. Between January 2018 and March 2019, supervised consumption sites in Calgary, Lethbridge, Edmonton, Grande Prairie and Red Deer recorded more than 315,000 visits and reversed over 3,500 overdoses. Because only a small percentage of overdoses require a transfer to a hospital setting, these sites not only save lives, they save costs. Alberta being the second most affected province by Canada’s overdose crisis, it would be fiscally irresponsible not to fund and support new supervised consumption sites.

The UCP says it is committed to implementing “effective strategies that will lead to a world-class system with improved quality of life,” but it fails to see that this goal is unattainable as long as this overdose crisis continues. It also fails to recognize that supervised consumption sites are effective strategies that keep people alive — while also improving health outcomes, access to health care and support, and yes, quality of life. For the first time in more than four decades, life expectancy is going down in Canada due to the overdose crisis. This is true for Alberta as well — and men under 40 are particularly affected. In fact, 77 per cent of the people who died of an overdose in 2017 were men under 40. If these tragic deaths continue, it will be impossible for the UCP government to develop a “world-class health care system.” Furthermore, it will be impossible to reach an improvement in quality of life in Alberta no matter the amount invested.