Letter: Local spike in substance use deaths should be concerning to all

By Letter to the Editor on June 28, 2023.

Dear editor,

The Alberta Substance Use Surveillance Data for the first four months of 2023 was released this week.

Alberta started tracking this information in 2016. That year, in Alberta for January to April there were 159 deaths. This year from January to April there were 613 deaths, a 285% increase from 2016.

In Medicine Hat, in 2016 for January-April there were no deaths. This year in that same stretch there were 12, a staggering 1200% increase.

The drug supply is increasingly more toxic and supports currently in place are obviously not working well enough or, dare I say, as promised.

Ask any of the loved ones grieving a substance use death. If we continue to wrongly place blame and shame, these stats, these numbers, these deaths will evidentially hit closer to your own home.

Kym Porter

Medicine Hat

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