I think it's always the result of multiple factors when we're looking at trends in drug poisoning. Some things that we're seeing in our province are concerning. There's been a substantial reduction in the number of people using supervised consumption sites. It's about half of what it was before the pandemic. I think it's because of the lack of incorporating inhalation, as well as a number of the closures and relocations of the services that have disrupted connections to care for people who use drugs.
We are also seeing, as mentioned, a lot more deaths in public spaces. We need to be addressing homelessness and unstable housing. I think if people had safe places to live, with proper services and wraparound care, they wouldn't be dying of drug overdoses on our streets.
Beyond that, we have relatively low rates of opioid agonist treatment coverage for a province of our size. Only about 14,000 Albertans in quarter three of 2023 were being dispensed opioid agonist medications. That seems to be quite a low coverage rate. I think we need to also do more to expand access to opioid agonist treatments in our province.
Of course, I don't know why Alberta hasn't moved to trial a safer supply. It is potentially a very powerful tool, as Dr. Nosyk spoke to, to reduce mortality amongst the subset of people who use substances. We need to use every single tool we have to address this generational and staggering crisis.