Parkland Inst. study digs into ripple effects of drug crisis

By ANNA SMITH Local Journalism Initiative on November 7, 2025.

asmith@medicinehatnews.com

A recent study released by the Parkland Institute lays out repercussions of the drug crisis for health-care workers and potentially every Albertan needing health care.

Researcher and author of “Ripple Effects: The Drug Toxicity Crisis and its Impact on Frontline Health Workers”, Jennifer Jackson, says the report shows that not only is the crisis hard on patients, which many have known for a “long time,” but on those who are tasked with caring for them as well.

“Our current system is not working for anybody,” said Jackson. “I’m hoping that we can provide some recommendations that Alberta Health and other parties can take forward, because we have lots of scope for improvement so that our health care services are better for people with addictions and health care professionals across the province.”

Alberta saw 10,185 recorded drug-related deaths in 2024, said Jackson, the majority of which coming from fentanyl or methamphetamine. She says that while there have been similar studies, there has not been a focus on Alberta-specific data, nor has there been a close look at health-care workers outside of doctors and nurses.

“We sent a survey to the Health Sciences Association of Alberta,” said Jackson. “They represent just about anyone that has a regulated role that is not a doctor or nurse. We asked them about their knowledge and attitudes towards opioids and people with addictions. We asked them about their quality of life and burnout at work and if they were experiencing any workplace violence.”

Results from the survey and from conducted interviews found health-care workers have positive attitudes toward those with addictions or substance use and wish to help them. However, they also feel they lack training and knowledge in regards to the toxic drug crisis that would allow them to do so effectively.

With responses from 530-plus health-care workers, it shows how this alongside inadequate resources and treatment options, lack of managerial and government support put frontline workers in a position of having to do more with less.

“Working in a system that doesn’t provide health-care professionals with what they need leads to poorer outcomes for people living with addictions. The ramifications also ripple out to the workers themselves: many report dealing with burnout, shortened careers, undue stress and violence on the job,” said Jackson. Burnout and stress were noted to be notably high in emergency personnel.

Jackson identified one key issue to be the current approach to illegal drug usage, as she said an abstinence-based drug treatment model hasn’t proven effective, and that combined with inadequate funding for housing and mental health interventions, has only led to increasingly bad outcomes.

The report recommends the province embrace evidence-based methods, including harm-reduction strategies, which are proven to reduce overdoses and other harmful outcomes for the sake of both patients and health-care workers.

HSAA is calling for the government to accept Parkland Institute’s recommendations, with vice-president Leanne Alfaro adding that “our members are proud to do this work, but they are paying a heavy price. Alberta must listen to the workers on the front lines and start reinstating the programs, tools, staffing and leadership needed to save lives.”

Medicine Hat Drug Coalition member and advocate Kym Porter also added her perspective, saying these outcomes for health-care workers are no surprise given the current state of substance use care in Alberta.

“I completely understand why the health-care workers are having shortened careers, are struggling with burnout or are potentially turning to substances themselves,” said Porter. “I don’t think our brains and our hearts have the capacity to deal with what we’re dealing with. They have to see people coming in again and again who aren’t getting the help that will work for them, and they’re seeing people die.”

She pushed for more public treatment options, advocating for there to be a variety of different regulated approaches to addressing substance use, as put forward by those who see it as part of their daily lives.

“Let’s follow the adage, nothing about us without us,” said Porter. “Let’s go to the people on the streets. Let’s go to the health-care workers and talk to them. Let’s find out exactly what they need.”

The full report can be found online at parklandinstitute.ca/ripple_effects.

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