When the Alberta government claims that deaths from the toxic drug crisis are decreasing or stabilizing, take a look at this graph — it tells a very different story.

Involuntary care won’t fix this.
Compassion, harm reduction, on-demand voluntary treatment options, and real supports will.

Claim #5: "The Alberta model works." Does it, though?

Claim #4: Experiences of harm from involuntary care are "anecdotes". Fair, but these harms also appear in the literature. Involuntary treatment may increase the risk of post-tx overdose, and can also seriously damage trust in personal/professional relationships. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Claim #3: "SCS don't work." Supervised consumption services SAVE LIVES. Try as the Alberta government might to disinform us otherwise via bogus review panels and white papers, the evidence base demonstrating SCS benefits is more robust than available evidence for involuntary care. www.whyscs.ca

Claim #2: "Housing First doesn't work." Housing First HOUSES PEOPLE. When the unhoused are as over-represented in our grim drug poisoning stats as they are, housing becomes a critical ingredient for health, recovery, and survival during a toxic drug crisis. mentalhealthcommission.ca/what-we-do/a...

Claim #1: "Most people in active addiction don't want treatment." Many PWUD have accessed or tried to access treatment, and 49% of Alberta PWUD in a recent survey would accept it if offered tomorrow. Sadly, access barriers, judgment, and ineffective treatments are common along the way.