Changes to addiction care won’t work, say NDP, Friends of Medicare

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on April 17, 2025.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

The Alberta NDP and Friends of Medicare advocacy organization have raised alarms about the provincial government’s proposed legislation that will allow people suffering from addictions and mental illness who are deemed a threat to themselves or others to be treated against their will.
On Tuesday, the government introduced Bill 53, the Compassionate Intervention Act, which if passed, will pave the way for treatment or care plans to be requested by family members, health care  professionals, guardians, and/or police/peace officers for individuals with severe addictions.
The government says the bill will be a measure of last resort.
If the legislation passes, Alberta will be the first jurisdiction in Canada to implement compassionate care legislation for both adults and youth.
The government says the legislation is based on best practices, citing in part Norway, where 75 per cent of patients with longer care and follow-up periods found intervention helped them.
It also says more than 780 people visited the ER because of substance use more than 10 times in 2023 alone.
But Jane Eremenko, the NDP’s shadow minister for mental health and addictions, calls the legislation the result of a failed UCP drug policy.
“It will do nothing to address the public safety issues that our communities are facing,” Eremenko said in a statement.
There’s no  evidence that forced treatment works.
“The UCP government has promised 11 recover communities and opened three, leading to average wait times of three months. This model will  do nothing to stop homelessness, nor will it stop Albertans from starting to use drugs. The UCP has cut prevention and early intervention funding and is now turning to a measure that raises serious ethical and legal questions,” the MLA for the riding of Calgary-Currie added.
Friends of Medicare says the legislation is dangerous, ineffective and not compassionate.
“The government is stubbornly moving forward with this ideological bill despite a lack of evidence to support forced treatment. In fact, there is evidence to show this approach could very well result in  further harm and more fatalities,” said a statement by Chris Gallaway, executive director of Friends of Medicare.
“We regularly hear stories from Albertans who voluntarily seek out mental health or addictions support, but can’t find it or are told they’ll have to wait.” Gallaway added, “The real issue we need to tackle is a lack of  access to timely care, not a push to further criminalize those who use  drugs.”
Gallaway said since the launch of Recovery Alberta, the UCP government’s priority has been the interests of the private recovery industry.
“The combination of forced treatment legislation, along with funding for many new private facilities, has created a market for private recovery businesses to profit off of the health and addictions care needs of Albertans,” said Gallaway.
The government believes that voluntary approaches to treatment haven’t been accessed or have been ineffective for those with the most severe addictions problems.
On Tuesday, it said compassionate intervention “will offer secure or  ommunity-based care plans tailored to individual recovery needs and  timelines, incorporating robust case management for clients.”
Statistics provided by the province on Tuesday show that in 2024, substances killed 1,414 Albertans and there were 10,955 EMS responses to opioid-related issues. Province-wide, there were 76,054 visits to emergency departments because of substance use and 26,082 hospitalizations.

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