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Alberta’s NDP government has no position on decriminalizing hard drugs but is open to the conversation around the issue, associate health minister Brandy Payne said Monday.

As Ottawa moves toward legalizing recreational cannabis next year, recently elected federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has called for the decriminalization of personal possession of all drugs to help combat the escalating problems with opioids.

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Speaking to reporters, Payne said Alberta has not looked at the idea of decriminalization, noting that the designation of drugs as legal or illegal is a federal responsibility.

But she expressed support for Singh raising the issue.

“I think that when we’re dealing with an opioid crisis and a type of emergency that we’ve never seen before, that it’s important to examine all of the different options,” Payne said after delivering greetings at the Issues of Substance conference being put on in Calgary by the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA).