Peace River MLA Dan Williams has some new reponsibilities as the Province’s Minister of Mental Health and Addictions.
Williams says he’ll be working to deal with the “addiction crisis” in Alberta.
“We have to push back against this federal Liberal plan to just put dollars for drugs and dump it into our communities. That’s only gonna make things worse. Alberta has taken a different approach and I’m very glad to be the minister where we get to show true compassion, where we’re going to be trying to deal with the difficulties of addictions by getting people treatment and getting them into recovery so they’re no longer addicted.”
Williams says one of the biggest things he wants to do is introduce the compassionate intervention legislation.
“It is going to allow us to be able to deal with folks who are struggling with mental health and addiction and be able to bring them into care. It’s not compassionate at all to do what the federal government is proposing and is doing in places like Ontario and BC. Pumping our communities full of very powerful opioids, making addiction more widespread and not helping or saving any lives.”
One election campaign promise from the UCP was for the Compassionate Intervention Act, which would give police and family members of drug users the ability to refer adults and youth into involuntary treatment.
The full interview we did with Williams can be found below.
– Kyle Moore, Trending 55 Newsroom
