Saskatchewan recorded an all-time high in drug toxicity deaths last year as it reinforces its focus on recovery from addiction to drugs.
Saskatchewan’s government has made it more difficult for people living with addiction to safely use drugs.
The province announced it will no longer pay for drug pipes used at safe consumption sites, or instructions on safe consumption, because it sends the wrong message, according to Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Tim McLeod. No mention of the soaring number of lives lost to overdoses.
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For some, the message the government wants to avoid sending is that it cares about the lives of people who use drugs.
Kayla DeMong, the executive director of Prairie Harm Reduction in Saskatoon, called the move “incredibly scary” last week, noting the agency that provides a place for addicts to safely use drugs receives all of its supplies from the Saskatchewan Health Authority.
DeMong said she believes the move could be life-threatening for the 300 or so clients who use the service every month.
The government’s shift comes shortly after it announced a new alert system to warn about possible drug toxicity threats. It’s all part of the province’s strategy to focus on recovery from addiction instead of harm reduction.
That politically conservative thinking suggests rising drug toxicity deaths, particularly in jurisdictions like British Columbia, show that safe consumption has failed and another direction is needed.
Yet Saskatchewan’s policy change arrives as the province is set to smash the previous high for overdose deaths in a year. As of Dec. 31, Saskatchewan recorded 484 confirmed and suspected drug toxicity deaths, which easily eclipses the previous high of 407 in 2021.
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In 2022, when Saskatchewan sustained 367 such deaths, our province ranked third in Canada in per capita deaths behind only B.C. and Alberta — above the national rate and far above next-door Manitoba.
Saskatchewan’s 2023 numbers break down as 291 confirmed and 193 suspected deaths, which reflects unresolved cases. Of the 484 combined, 187 were attributed solely or partly to methamphetamines. As recently as 2019, meth deaths totalled 48.
Of the confirmed overdose deaths, 182 happened in either Regina or Saskatoon. And here’s where the numbers show a distinct disparity.
Even though Saskatoon is a larger city, Regina suffered nearly twice as many deaths, 127 to 65, in 2023. And that’s no anomaly. It reflects a clear trend for the last four years. In 2022, Regina led Saskatoon 152 to 78; in 2021, 197 to 114; and in 2020, 146 to 73.
The most obvious factor separating the two cities is that Prairie Harm Reduction in Saskatoon was established in the fall of 2019 despite an ongoing lack of provincial funding.
Safe consumption services also exist in Regina, but they are not as well-established as Prairie Harm Reduction, located in Saskatoon’s Pleasant Hill neighbourhood near St. Paul’s Hospital.
Interestingly, for a government that is making it more difficult to offer safe consumption, the government links to online resources, including Prairie Harm Reduction, on its website, but describes them as aimed at reducing the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C.
Prairie Harm Reduction is referred to as a place “pursuing innovation and demonstrating evidence-based outcomes.” Well, the evidence of far fewer overdose deaths in Saskatoon seems worth considering.
It strains believability to think the drug supply and availability is that different in two cities a two-and-a-half-hour drive apart.
A link to the Newo Yotina Friendship Centre near downtown Regina describes the agency as “an overdose prevention site.” The centre’s own website says it is “proudly” Canada’s only Indigenous safe consumption site.
It’s been operating as such since 2021, with support from former Regina police chief Evan Bray.
Another link on the resources page connects to “Moms Stop the Harm,” a website dedicated to harm reduction and safe drug supply for users.
It seems like the government knows or at least suspects that harm reduction works, but can’t quite make itself lend outright support like funding these efforts.
Instead, it’s making trying to address addiction more difficult for agencies like Prairie Harm Reduction through defunding what little support it lends.
Tragically, the only way to gauge the effect of the government’s changes in drug addiction policy might be the province’s overdose death statistics.
Phil Tank is the digital opinion editor at the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
ptank@postmedia.com
twitter.com/thinktankSK
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