Addictions funding defended by Saskatchewan government following budget

There is little extra funding for mental health and addictions and no money for supervised consumption sites in the Saskatchewan budget for the coming year, leaving some in the province feeling there is a big gap as drug overdose deaths climb.

Prairie Harm Reduction (PHR), which is located in Saskatoon, is Saskatchewan’s only permanent safe consumption site.

PHR put in a request to the provincial government for $1.3 million for operational funding, but its funding request was denied for the second year in a row.

“This budget has done nothing to stop people from dying,” said Jason Mercredi, executive director of PHR.

When asked why PHR was denied funding, Mental Health and Addictions Minister Everett Hindley said government is trying to provide widespread supports to people in all kinds of communities.

“I think you don’t have to go too far to find an individual that can speak to an addictions challenge that’s somewhat close to them,” said Hindley.

PHR does get several thousands of dollars from the government for specific things, such as a case worker, but it has to fundraise in the community to keeps its doors open. Hindley was asked why a group providing lifesaving services should have to fundraise, but he didn’t address the question directly.

“Our government has invested heavily into both mental health and addictions over the last number of years. There have been record investments into both of those areas,” Hindley said in response.

According to the Government of Canada’s page on safe consumption sites, evidence shows they “clearly” save lives, connect people to social services and provide a path to treatment.

There is $458 million in the provincial budget for mental health and addictions with a significant portion of that for addictions services, according to Hindley. The spending is $23 million more than in the 2020 budget, $7.2 million of which is for new initiatives.

“We’re trying to do a couple of things here: One, (we’re) wanting to expand access to treatment beds. So that’s why we’re adding an additional 12 treatment beds at the crystal meth treatment facility in Estevan, plus an additional two pre-treatment beds there. So that’s part of it,” explained Hindley.

The province is also expanding the Naloxone program, which provides the opioid overdose reversal drug to people free of charge. However, the drug is still not universally covered by the drug plan as it is in some other provinces, and so, outside of the program, it can be too expensive for some.

Hindley said the government is trying to make it easier to access harm reduction products, and to that end, will be putting money into three new mobile harm reduction vans — one each in Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert.

“Those buses will provide professional supports where an individual can talk to a professional about working out a treatment plan, accessing harm reduction supplies. We’re going to be including drug-checking devices because we know that is part of the problem,” said Hindley.

Hindley said this isn’t a challenge that can be solved in one year, and government is trying to find an approach that works well for Saskatchewan and will evolve.

“We recognize that this is a serious challenge for all of our communities in this province and right across Canada. We feel that these are some important steps that we need to take but we know that there’s more work that’s going to be required,” said Hindley.

In 2020, there were 332 confirmed or suspected drug overdose deaths in Saskatchewan, nearly double the number recorded in 2019. Between Jan. 1 and March 1 of this year, there were 75 confirmed or suspected overdose deaths, which is more than one a day.