Readers can catch all of our continued coverage exploring the toxic drugs crisis in Edmonton under a new Toxi-City section on our website
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In mid-December of last year, a group of reporters, photographers and editors from the Postmedia Edmonton newsroom came together to explore a project covering the toxic drug crisis in the city.
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As the province continued to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, another crisis had been going on simultaneously, and for much longer. For years, Albertans have been dying of drug poisonings, a number that has been steadily increasing, culminating with 1,771 deaths in 2021. While the COVID-19 pandemic was treated as an all-hands-on-deck situation, the drug poisoning crisis was met with less urgency.
The Alberta government’s focus is on recovery and expanding treatment beds, yet families grieving loved ones are calling on the provincial government to do more, while frontline organizations have sprung up in an attempt to fill gaps.
“Over the last two years, newsroom resources have been directed toward the COVID-19 pandemic, and rightfully so, but there hasn’t been as much sustained coverage for this other crisis that has been causing the deaths of Albertans for much longer,” said reporter Anna Junker, who led the Toxi-City series with parts one and two and has since written nearly a dozen more stories on the topic.
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“This is certainly not a one-time project,” Junker added. “Moving forward, I will be focusing on more coverage, like policy decisions around safer supply and decriminalization which the city of Edmonton is currently exploring, and other issues related to the drug poisoning crisis.”
Readers can read all of our continued coverage under a new Toxi-City section on our website.
Do you know someone struggling with addiction? Have you lost a loved one to a drug overdose? Send us your stories via email at: [email protected]
Toxi-City full series