Province announces sweeping changes for addiction care
By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on April 16, 2025.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com
The Alberta government on Tuesday introduced legislation that will subject addicts to intervention if they are deemed likely to harm themselves or others.
Bill 53, Compassionate Intervention Act, if passed, will give a way for treatment or care plans to be requested by family members, health care professionals, guardians, police/peace officers for individuals with severe addictions.
It will be a measure of last resort, says the government.
Eligibility for youth will be comparable to the Protection of Children Abusing Drugs Act which provides mandatory short-term detox, stabilization and assessment. It would replace, and, according to the province, improve the PChAD to allow for longer treatment, an easier application process and more family involvement in a youth’s recovery.
If the legislation passes, Alberta will be the first jurisdiction in Canada to implement compassionate care legislation for adults and youth.
Drug usage costs Alberta $7 billion annually in terms of health care, productivity and justice costs. More than 780 people visited the ER because of substance use more than 10 times in 2023 alone.
The government says the legislation is based on best practices, citing Norway where 75 per cent of patients with longer care and follow-up periods, found intervention helped them. It also cites a study from Massachusetts in which people who with opioid addictions were followed for 12 weeks after a brief period of treatment and there were no deaths, with 59 per cent relapsing.
The province states that Portugal’s “dissuasion commission model” has shown a reduction in drug-related fatalities as well as improved service co-ordination and access to treatment.
The government also states that some professions including nurses, doctors, dentists, pharmacists and pilots all have similar programs which “demonstrate incredible results including abstaining from drugs or alcohol in the range of about 70-95 per cent long-term with frequent return to work and high quality of life outcomes.”
The government believes that voluntary approaches to treatment haven’t been accessed or have been ineffective for those with the most severe addiction problems.
If the legislation is approved, the government will build treatment centres for people receiving care. It also states that correctional facilities won’t be used for compassionate interventions. The 2025 provincial budget includes $180 million to be spent over three years to create two 150-bed compassionate care centres in Calgary and Edmonton with construction to start next year.
And it says CI “will offer secure or community-based care plans tailored to individual recovery needs and timelines, incorporating robust case management for clients.”
Under present legislation, the Mental Health Act allows for mandatory care for people with a mental disorder. The PChAD lets legal guardians seek court intervention to involuntarily detain children under the age of 18 for 10 days in a safe house for the purpose of detoxification.
The government says its goal with the Alberta Recovery Model is to create a world-class publicly funded continuum of care where people can get access to needed addictions and mental health services.
Statistics provided by the province 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.
Legislation specifies treatment that a patient can’t refuse including to be monitored, observed or assessed by a treatment team, receive clinical advice and take medications to treat their addictions or substance use that are authorized, prescribed and administered.
The province says safeguards will be put in place to ensure patients rights are respected.
“We cannot – and will not – stand by and let addiction destroy our families and communities. The Compassionate Intervention Act will provide life-saving support, ensuring families are no longer forced to watch their loved ones suffer from the deadly disease of addiction and endure the pain it brings,” said Dan Williams, Minister of Mental Health and Addiction, in a statement.
20-19
Too many families have had to watch helplessly as their late teens, young adult children slowly killed themselves on drugs and could do nothing to save them under current laws.
I applaud this Act and it has taken too long to put the programs in place to support this, including the treatment beds needed for it.
This is where our focus should have been 10 years ago, not on the failed harm reduction models that BC put in place starting back in 2003 by opening the first safe injection site in North America. Harm reduction threw gasoline on the fire and increased fatal overdoses!
Decriminalization failed in BC and Oregon and safe supply is not seeing any meaningful changes and it is sad that BC hides the fatal overdoses on safe supply by not including them in their illegal toxic drug fatal overdose statistics.
Alberta is on the right track, and now has tangible proof they are from the reduction in fatal overdoses. We don’t hide our statistics like BC and province wide had a reduction of over 40% in fatal overdoses and Lethbridge saw a 60% reduction . . . that is big and great news!
Lethbridge is becoming a model in dealing with the issues as well and we need to applaud the efforts of some of our leadership for persevering attacks from other leadership and public. Lives were saved because of their efforts.
You cannot look at a model in Portugal and think it would work here! There are too many variables, differences between the two countries: law enforcement, penal systems, treatment availability, social norms, etc.
Alberta is becoming the model in Canada that works, but remember that every community has their own unique issues that the focus must be put on. Lethbridge has been impacted more so than others in Alberta because of being next to the largest Indigenous community in Canada, with 3 others within 2 hours that impact our city . . . the US Blackfeet Nation in Montana in a few cases, the Siksika, and the Piikani.
These communities have suffered significant losses from fatal overdoses and in their communities, often one family is connected to several other families increasing teh impact. I would hope this new Act will give them another tool to reduce those numbers .
I support this Act! You are not going to see a bus pull up and load up a bunch of addicts off the street and haul them away to force treatment on them . . . that is not what this Act is about! Take the time to research this Act and understand its intentions, which is to save lives and save more families from grieving from loss of life needlessly!
“The scope of Alberta’s proposed legislation is particularly alarming. By allowing police, health care professionals, and family members to request an addiction treatment order for any Albertans “who are a danger to themselves or others due to their addiction or substance use,” this bill opens up the potential for sweeping up individuals who do not meet criteria for addiction. Such an approach would expand criminalization under the guise of care, rather than investing in community-based harm reduction, treatment, and social supports that have been proven to save lives.”
https://www.cpha.ca/alberta-involuntary-treatment
There is not criminalization for them under the care! Stop misleading the public!!!
Harm reduction is a complete failure and Alberta has proven it is and their model of treatment along with drug courts work.
Those treated do not get charged with a criminal charge no more than those who go to drug court and take treatment end up with criminal charges!
The facts are before everyone: BC has is the best example harm reduction doesn’t work!
You obviously have some type of investment in harm reduction that you fear losing, even if this program saves more lives!