Thank you for that question.
If we look at the overdose crisis overall and the number of fatalities, we see that British Columbia has the highest rate per 100,000 population in Canada. Alberta comes in second, and Ontario is third. Certainly the arrival of fentanyl and carfentanil in our jurisdiction does not go unnoted. None of us are happy with the number of fatalities that are happening because of fentanyl and carfentanil usage.
That being said, the reality is that we have an obligation. I view my obligation in Alberta Health Services as an obligation to ensure that we're building the best possible treatment system that we can, one that's accessible to people when they need it so that they can move along the continuum of care and receive evidence-based care.
Unfortunately, part of the story of what's happening in Alberta has not been narrated by Alberta. For example, in Alberta and previously, as I discovered looking at transcripts for this committee, Alberta does have exactly the same number of supervised consumption sites today as it had six or seven years ago. Alberta recently, just last year, opened six narcotic transition service sites that provide hydromorphone by injection or orally under supervision. Those medications cannot leave the site. The sites are intended to help people with the most extreme form of opioid addiction and the most negative consequences of it.
Furthermore, Alberta, as an example, distributed nearly a quarter of a million naloxone kits last year, so there are a lot of things happening in the harm reduction space that don't really make it to the front pages. I wouldn't say that Alberta is not investing in or working on those areas.
Where Alberta perhaps is different is that Alberta is trying to implement a recovery-oriented system of care, so that a person who enters care at a narcotic transition service site or in a supervised consumption site is encouraged, and there's work done to try to connect that person with treatment supports going forward.