Province pledges $8M for Alberta opioid recovery treatment 

The Alberta government is boosting its funding for opioid treatment.

The UCP government announced on Friday that it will be providing $8 million over the next four years to increase psychosocial supports for people recovering from opioid addiction.

“Addictions and opioids in Alberta have caused a great many to suffer, and some lost their lives,” Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Jason Luan said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Addictions and opioids in Alberta have caused a great many to suffer, and some lost their lives," Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Jason Luan said.

“The additional funding will help ensure Albertans with opioid use disorder have access to supports such as addictions counsellors and therapists, in addition to receiving prescribed medical treatment.”

The money will be spread over four years across 10 Opioid Dependency Program Clinics run by Alberta Health Services.

“We’ve been waiting years for support and help,” said Dr. Robert Tanguay, the medical lead for AHS opioid dependency training.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We've been waiting years for support and help," said Dr. Robert Tanguay, the medical lead for AHS opioid dependency training.

“Without this help, we have struggled to be an over-filled clinic trying to help as many people as we can.

“Often recovery cannot be achieved without psychosocial wraparound services and this has been supported by the evidence for many, many years. These high output methadone clinics simply aren’t working, and what we really need to be doing is helping people with full wraparound support.”