I'd like to start by telling you a story about an individual known to us as Jodie Bruketa.
Jodie Bruketa was a 28-year-old Calgarian and a recent university graduate who was establishing her career in the communications field and living on her own in Calgary. Jodie developed headaches as a result of a motor vehicle accident, and as a result, was prescribed Percocet in April 2003. By the fall of that year, her Percocet use had escalated. In January 2004, Jodie died as a result of an overdose of Percocet and a sedative. She was found by her brother in her kitchen. At the time of her death, she was making soup.
I wish I could tell you that Jodie's death is uncommon, but it's not. Jodie's story is all too common. That is why it is important that we are here today.
The Coalition on Prescription Drug Misuse, or as we refer to ourselves, CoOPDM, was formed in May 2008 to address the issue of prescription drug misuse in Alberta. What makes our organization unique is who we are.
CoOPDM is composed of organizations and individuals that have voluntarily and collaboratively come together with a common vision to address and reduce the misuse of prescription drugs in Alberta. Around our table, we have pharmacists, treatment providers, police officers, physicians, and government representation, many of the stakeholder groups that see first-hand the impact of prescription drug misuse.
Since 2008 we've been actively and collaboratively addressing the issue of prescription drug misuse. We have undertaken a number of research and consultation initiatives to better understand the scope and complexity of the problem within Alberta. We began by commissioning a study to look at the scope of the problem in 2008. As we've heard here today, there are very limited data and information available for us to work on.
We conducted a series of focus groups on reserves in first nations, in inner-city neighbourhoods with high-risk populations, and with key professional groups, such as physicians, pharmacists, police officers, and treatment professionals. We held a symposium of professional, government, and community leaders to begin to engage some of the most senior leaders in our province on the issue.
We've undertaken a number of research projects to better understand how to improve the collection of data on prescription drug misuse, which would help us to better understand the problem and determine what is required to more comprehensively address this issue at the provincial and national levels.
We've been active participants with the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse in the development of the “First Do No Harm” strategy. In fact, Dr. Susan Ulan, who is our co-chair of CoOPDM, was also a co-chair with the National Advisory Council on Prescription Drug Misuse, which authored the report.
We are also currently working closely with Alberta's chief medical officer of health to determine the right path to ensure this issue gets priority attention in our province's public health agenda.
I'd like to turn it over to my counterpart, Dr. Susan Ulan.