With overdose deaths spiking in Saskatchewan under the Sask. Party’s failed approach, the NDP is calling for a strategy for community safety and dedicated action to address the increase of opioids and crystal meth addictions in Saskatchewan.
“We’ve seen the devastating toll that addiction takes on communities and families, but without a clear and comprehensive strategy, this crisis will continue to rage,” said NDP Mental Health and Addictions Critic Danielle Chartier. “A strategy starts with providing improved access to naloxone kits, eliminating the wait times for detox and between detox and treatment, and introducing dedicated mental health and addictions emergency rooms, so patients with mental health and addictions issues receive timely care instead of getting triaged to the bottom and waiting longer for treatment. When someone struggling with addiction asks for help, that help needs to be there immediately, not several weeks later.”
In the past two months the 2020 toll of overdose deaths in Regina has nearly doubled, from 33 to 63 — a significant increase from the 21 deaths reported in 2019. Regina police have responded to 712 overdoses so far this year, up from 82 for all of 2019. In committee, Chartier learned the number of admissions to in-patient addictions for crystal meth rose from 3 per cent in 2012-13 up to 30.58 per cent in 2017-18.
The government has chosen not to fund safe consumption sites in the province in their 2020 budget. And in addition to the skyrocketing number of overdoses in Regina and Saskatoon, advocates have been sounding the alarm about an acute lack of access to treatments in Northern, remote, and rural communities as well.
“The Sask. Party has been ignoring these problems for years, and we know that their playbook of cuts and austerity will only mean more people falling through the cracks,” Chartier said. “An addictions strategy is desperately needed, and any further delay simply means more Saskatchewan people will die.”
Poor working conditions, favouritism, $300K travel nurse pay at issue
REGINA - Today, the Official Opposition released a letter signed by 49 emergency room nurses in Saskatoon. The letter slams the Sask. Party government for failing to support Saskatchewan nurses and curb the province’s reliance on expensive out-of-province travel nurses.
REGINA - Today, Official Opposition Critic for First Nations and Métis Relations Betty Nippi-Albright hosted a Day of Action with Indigenous leaders from Nekaneet First Nation, Yellow Quill First Nation, Waterhen Lake First Nation, Onion Lake Cree Nation, Carry The Kettle First Nation, Key First Nation and the residential school support team from Yorkton Tribal Council. Together, they continue to draw attention to the Sask. Party government’s disregard for the Duty to Consult process.
MOOSE JAW - Today, the Official Opposition stood with Taylor Enns, president of the Moose Jaw Firefighters Association, and Brayden Dutchak, the son of a cancer survivor. Together, they called on the Sask. Party government to reopen Saskatchewan’s only hyperbaric chamber.
Records show former Sask. Party Finance Minister lobbied for Calgary surgery scheme on behalf of a major Sask. Party donor
REGINA - Today, the Official Opposition grilled the Premier and his Minister of Health after the Minister misled the public, claiming that he had not been lobbied by a former Sask. Party MLA when Saskatchewan's official lobbyist logs show the exact opposite.