Alberta model - Drug Data Decoded

Seven people posing and smiling in front of an advertisement poster reading "BC Centre on Substance Use".

Alberta model

Saskatchewan government funded two advisory reviews by ROSC Solutions Group

ROSC Solutions Group, a top recipient of AB recovery contracts, was funded for two reports on operations of Saskatchewan recovery centres. Their outcomes are creating a new beachhead for the privatized, abstinence-focused 'recovery-oriented system of care.'

Alberta model

Saskatchewan government funded two advisory reviews by ROSC Solutions Group

ROSC Solutions Group, a top recipient of Alberta recovery contracts, has sold the Saskatchewan government two government advisory reports. The outcomes are creating a new beachhead for the abstinence-focused 'recovery-oriented system of care.'

Three magazine covers from Alberta Views nominated for the award, including 'What's Wrong With Rehab?'

Alberta model

'What's Wrong With Rehab?' wins gold at Alberta Magazine Awards

This story was written the first summer after Drug Data Decoded launched, appearing on the cover of the March 2024 Alberta Views. Since then, its conclusions and predictions have borne out. A look at some of the follow-up work on the Alberta Recovery Model.

Cartoon of people on laptops sitting around a desk with the words "Transparency" and "Accountability" hanging overhead.

Surveillance

Province to abandon My Recovery Plan amid Auditor General snooping

Alberta's Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction is quietly terminating its contract with a personal data-harvesting app and replacing it with a publicly-owned 'bed availability dashboard.' The move coincides with reported scrutiny of ministry spending by the Auditor General.

Maps showing the proposed footprints of the two drug jails in sparsely populated areas of Calgary and Edmonton.

forced abstinence

Alberta government reveals drug jail locations in procurement document

The Alberta government has issued a request for interested parties to participate in the procurement process for two forced abstinence detention facilities, to be located in northwest Calgary and northeast Edmonton – right beside existing carceral institutions.

Visual instructions on how to tie a bow line knot, which is frequently used to secure ships to a dock.

ROSC Solutions Group

Alberta recovery programs require private 'coaches,' emails show

As one recovery centre admits that recovery coaches supplied by Bowline Health are now mandatory to access its residential services, it is unclear if the Province will mandate its coaches across the recovery system. Meanwhile, the company's vertical integration expands to emergency rooms.

A tall man with long blonde hair and a woman with blonde and pink hair walk on a city street wearing backpacks.

Compassionate Intervention Act

RECLAIM Collective speaks out against forced abstinence

In advance of Support. Don't Punish on June 26, the founders of RECLAIM Collective share their thoughts on how the forced abstinence legislation recently passed by the Alberta government will impact their community.

A darkened room with an L-shaped row of clinical-looking seated booths in front of mirrors. Above each booth is a vent, and beside each one is a sharps disposal bin.

News

Drug inhalation is being choked off in Alberta

Demand continues to increase dramatically for clean drug inhalation supplies, but procurement data obtained by Drug Data Decoded show the supply is being throttled back. Is the shortfall helping to drive Alberta cities to new overdose heights?

A man in a two-tone tartan suit jacket and heavily gelled hair speaks into a microphone. Another man lurks in the background.

Compassionate Intervention Act

Alberta to eliminate due process for people who use drugs

The Alberta government is going full MAGA with its Compassionate Intervention Act, which will strip people who use drugs of due process and force them into months-long medical incarceration.

A woman is in mid-sentence behind a podium that reads "Alberta Recovery Model" and in front of a screen reading "Recovery Alberta."

Alberta model

"Coercion at its finest": Ministry mandating My Recovery Plan participation for recovery service access

The privately owned, sole-sourced app that collects personal health information of people entering recovery programs was launched as ‘voluntary’ to comply with Alberta privacy laws. But eight months later, it isn’t voluntary anymore.

A woman wearing mask and gloves stares intently at an inverted vial and syringe she is holding in front of her face.

Alberta model

Edmonton set opioid poisoning records while Province quietly hid medical examiner review

Edmonton EMS dispatches for opioid poisoning have hit their highest weekly count ever. While other provincial governments issue warnings, Alberta has been hiding a key mortality report that could have informed solutions on the ground.

Alberta model

Survival of Alberta children forced into drug withdrawal is not monitored

The Alberta government has yet to release its proposed Compassionate Intervention Act but indicated in 2023 that the Act would extend existing legislation for forced abstinence of children to adults. Documents show that survival and other data are not tracked after children exit the system.