While stories of opioid use are often tragic with thousands of attributable deaths in recent years a woman in Calgary says using them, in the form of a prescribed powerful opioid medication, has saved her life. Now she's highlighting that abstinence doesn't work for everyone.

The Alberta government's abrupt halt of a project aimed at reducing drug overdoses sowed confusion, anger and panic, emails and messages from those involved show.

A powerful drug used to sedate horses and cattle is creeping into Canada's illicit drug supply and has been detected in a growing number of human drug poisoning deaths in Ontario.