The Saskatchewan NDP are sounding the alarm on what they say is a state of emergency when it comes to the drug issues in the community.

The Provincial opposition says reports from the Coroners Service shows between Jan. 1 and Aug. 1 there have been 210 confirmed or suspected drug toxicity deaths in Saskatchewan.

Betty Nippi-Albright, Saskatchewan NDP Shadow Minister for Mental Health & Addictions says that period of 212 days is only the beginning if the Saskatchewan Government doesn’t start handling the drug crisis appropriately.  “I’m calling on Mental Health and Addictions Minister Lori Carr to increase funding to frontline health care services focused on preventing drug deaths and supporting mental health.”

The opposition says the government wasted more than $1.5 million on the Willowview facility near Lumsden and still isn’t operating to the capacity originally promised, with people who need medical detox being set up virtually, rather than in-person. The Shadow Minister says virtual treatment has its place however, it cannot replace the human connection and medical supervision required for safe withdrawal and recovery.

The Shadow Minister says she continues to hear troubling stories and reports of patients leaving early, and when they do, they’re not being properly discharged. She says there’s no follow-up, no treatment plans, and worse, they remain listed in the system as active, even though they left.

At a separate news conference today, the opposition also targeted the province for claiming to be carbon tax free after documents released Friday show nearly a half-billion-dollar budget line item for the provincial carbon tax they claimed was scrapped in April.

According to the statement from the provincial opposition, the financial release from the government’s own quarterly shows a line item for the Output-Based Performance Standards, which i also known more commonly as the industrial carbon tax, of $466.9 million.

Saskatchewan NDP Shadow Minister for SaskPower Aleana Young says, “We have a Premier who lied. He booked massive budget line for the carbon tax, and his own staff are admitting a final decision hasn’t been made on the program. It’s simple, either he plans to restart the carbon tax, or the deficit reported Friday has actually more than doubled. Or, worst of all, he lied on budget day, and in the Legislature when he claimed Saskatchewan was “carbon-tax free”.