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Alberta Health Services (AHS) and RCMP will partner to offer people detained by police access to treatment for opioid dependence, as part of a $ 1.4 million per year expansion of the Virtual Opioid Dependence Program (VODP) of the government.
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The program will be implemented in Calgary, Edmonton, Grande Prairie, Wetaskiwin, Gleichen, St. Paul, and Stony Plain.
“Our government remains committed to ensuring that communities are safe, that people are held accountable for their actions, but we are treating addiction as a health problem at the same time,” said Mike Ellis, Alberta’s associate minister for mental health and the adictions. at a press conference in December.
“People who are arrested and taken to municipal jails will be able to immediately begin opioid addiction treatment while in custody, regardless of their charges,” Ellis said.
The program will offer the injectable drug Sublocade to people in police custody, which can reduce cravings and potentially prevent overdoses for up to 30 days for those struggling with opioid addiction.
Dr. Nathaniel Day, VODP Medical Director, says giving arrested people access to Sublocade could substantially improve the chance of a positive outcome.
“Effective addiction treatment in municipal jails will alleviate suffering and provide those who choose it with treatment that will improve outcomes and support healing in our communities,” Day said.
Through this program, the government says it will offer evaluations with a member of the multidisciplinary team and a prescriber while in police custody and, upon release, will help guide the individual toward treatment options.
“In our program, the most typical thing is a doctor who is a specialist in addiction medicine, who can then provide options and recommendations for treatment,” Day said.
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“So if a person is released from police custody, later that day or the next day, that person has the opportunity to continue treatment, and VODP will help that person get to the most appropriate local care as needed. “Day said.
At the press conference, Deputy Commissioner Curtis Zablocki, Alberta RCMP Commander-in-Chief, says this step of offering interventions in police custody can potentially break the destructive link between addiction and crime.
“We know that much of the property crimes reported in Alberta’s RCMP jurisdiction are drug-related, and while our organization’s role is to uphold and enforce the law, as police, we recognize that we must work to achieve more effective responses that address the root causes of crime, ”said Zablocki.
Last month, the provincial government announced that it would fully fund the use of Sublocade to help treat opioid addiction in Alberta, making Alberta the first province in Canada to do so.
Reference-www.dailyheraldtribune.com