Alberta's recovery pipeline: A critical policy analysis

Recovery policy is gaining legislative momentum as a proposed solution to address the 'addiction' crisis. As the first province in Canada to formally design and implement a recovery-oriented system of care, Alberta represents a key jurisdiction to critically explore this policy shift, commonly referred to as the 'Alberta Model.' Drawing from Carol Bacchi's What's the Problem Represented to Be (WPR) post-structural framework, this article asks: what problem representation is produced when recovery is positioned as the self-evident solution within the Alberta Model? And what are the implications of this problem representation for how people who use drugs (PWUD) are governed? Through a critical analysis of three provincial government texts, findings show a problem representation that positions PWUD as inherently risky; an implicit assumption that recovery follows a linear trajectory from treatment to abstinence; and the simultaneous hyper-visibility and hyper-invisibility that shapes how diverse groups of PWUD are governed through this new policy landscape. The implications indicate the Alberta Model is shaped by ideology about what recovery should look like, rather than keeping the meaning of recovery open for those moving and living through it. This has a significant impact on, and material implications for, people who may not be ready or willing to pursue recovery as it is currently represented within the provincial policy landscape. This article concludes by calling for new problematizations that are attuned to the multiple and diverse ways people pursue health, healing, and recovery.