Alberta’s recovery-focused addiction agency to address data gap
The launch of Alberta’s Centre of Recovery Excellence comes as Ontario and Saskatchewan also shift to recovery-oriented models
By Alexandra Keeler
This fall, Alberta will be launching a new agency to lead recovery-focused addiction research and treatment in the province.
The Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence (CoRE) aims to address a major challenge in Canada’s toxic drug crisis: a shortage of evidence-based, recovery-oriented research.
“[W]e hope to … support individuals on their recovery journey using the best available evidence on what works and what does not work,” the centre’s communications lead Katy Merrifield told Canadian Affairs in a written statement.
“There is also a lack of tangible research centred on the outcomes of recovery-focused policy, which is what CoRE aims to address,” she said.
The move comes at a time when Ontario and Saskatchewan are also shifting their policy responses away from harm-reduction strategies — such as safe consumption sites and needle exchange programs — toward more recovery-oriented models.
Last week, Ontario announced it would be closing 10 safe consumption sites located near daycares and schools and opening 19 recovery hubs. It also plans to prevent municipalities from establishing new consumption sites, requesting the decriminalization of illegal drugs or participating in federal safe supply initiatives, Canadian Affairs reported last week.
Early signs of success
CoRE’s launch is part of Alberta’s broader approach to addiction under the United Conservative Party government. The party, which has been in power since 2019, favours a recovery-oriented approach over a harm-reduction model.
In 2019, Alberta committed $140 million over four years to enhance addiction services, which has increased the number of available treatment spaces from 19,000 to 29,400. The province has eliminated a $40-a-day user fee at publicly funded addiction treatment facilities. And it has authorized police officers to assist detainees in seeking treatment.
The number of opioid-related deaths in the first three months of 2024 was 452, down from a high of 627 deaths in Q1 2023. However, it is still above the 241 deaths registered in the first quarter of 2020, according to the Alberta Substance Use Surveillance System.
Despite these early signs of success, the province would like to see further data to support its recovery-focused policy decisions.
“There is no clear centre of recovery excellence that can advise on what works and does not work when it comes to mental health and addictions,” Alberta’s Minister of Mental Health and Addiction Dan Williams said April 2 when announcing the creation of CoRE.
“One challenge with addiction research, and research in general, is there is often an attempt to look at a very specific intervention over a short period of time,” said Merrified. “[B]roader, long-term research is time consuming and expensive.”
CoRE will investigate the number of Albertans affected by addiction, their recovery journeys and outcomes, such as return to work, access to housing and family reunification.
The agency also plans to integrate global best practices into Alberta’s programs.
“From Portugal’s commission for drug dissuasion combined with their massive scale of recovery spaces to Italy’s use of recovery communities, we look forward to incorporating global lessons where applicable,” said Merrifield.
Industry funding
Alberta’s 2024 budget committed $5 million in funding to launch CoRE.
Merrifield says CoRE’s funding structure will be a key point of distinction between it and the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use, which is another key player in addiction research and education.
In contrast to CoRE, the B.C. centre prioritizes addiction medicine and harm reduction.
“Our vision is to enable the well-being of people who use substances through evidence-informed, stigma-free policies,” the centre’s website says.
“CoRE has safeguards enshrined in legislation to protect against receiving external funding that could be seen as attempting to bias research results,” said Merrifield, noting the centre will not accept industry funding from pharmaceutical or cannabis companies.
By contrast, the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use does receive funding from the pharmaceutical company Indivior, the pharmacy chain Shoppers Drug Mart and the cannabis companies Tilray and Canopy Growth.
Indivior is the maker of Suboxone, a medication prescribed for opioid dependence. Indivior is currently the subject of at least two class-action lawsuits alleging Indivior failed to disclose Suboxone’s adverse side effects, Canadian Affairs reported in August.
In 2021, Shoppers Drug Mart offered a $2-million gift to the University of British Columbia to establish a pharmacy fellowship and support the education of pharmacist-focused addiction treatment at the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use.
Asked about the risk that drug industry funding could compromise the objectivity of their research, the B.C. centre referred Canadian Affairs to their website’s funding page. The website states their research is supported by peer-reviewed grants and independent ethical reviews to ensure objectivity.
Similar programs
Kevin Hollett, communications lead for the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use, said the centre is willing to collaborate with CoRE.
“We would welcome opportunities to collaborate and share knowledge with the CoRE team following their operational launch and as they define their research scope,” he said in a written statement.
CoRE was initially slated to be operational this summer, but launch details have not yet been announced.
At a conference on April 4, Minister Williams announced plans for CoRE to collaborate with Ontario and Saskatchewan on recovery-focused treatment systems. Currently, both provinces lack a direct equivalent to CoRE or B.C.’s centre.
“Many jurisdictions are interested in learning from the Alberta Recovery Model and implementing similar programs,” said Merrifield.
This article was produced through the Breaking Needles Fellowship Program, which provided a grant to Canadian Affairs, a digital media outlet, to fund journalism on addiction and crime in Canada. Articles produced through the Fellowship are co-published by Break The Needle and Canadian Affairs.
Reliable research provides a measurement for determining successful outcomes. The evolution of recovery and healing from this national opioid crisis has only just begun.