Addiction experts tried to warn the Alberta government years ago that fentanyl abuse was about to become a crisis.

"We were aware that this was a problem that was hitting the fan," said Michael Trew, the province’s former chief addiction and mental health officer.

A document released to CBC News under access-to-information laws shows that Trew's office asked for a bigger role in battling opioid abuse in July 2014.

"While other provinces have made a clear priority of the issue, it languishes in Alberta," according to the memo, titled Advice to the Deputy Minister.

Trew was appointed in July 2013 under the province's former PC government. But when his contract expired in September 2015 under the current NDP government, it was not renewed.

Instead, the Office of the Chief Addiction and Mental Health Officer was disbanded — a decision Trew calls "short-sighted."

"We would have been at least two years ahead of where we are now in terms of organization," Trew told CBC News.