BC Government Rejects Provincial Health Officer’s Call to Expand Safer Supply

The B.C. government has rejected a proposal by the provincial health officer to expand the supply of non-prescribed safer supply drugs to address the ongoing overdose crisis in the province.
The July 11 report describes easier access to non-prescription safer supply drugs as an essential part of addressing the growing problem of drug poisonings and overdose deaths.
But Premier David Eby maintains that opioids shouldn’t be distributed without medical supervision, a point Mental Health and Addictions Minister Jennifer Whiteside stressed in response to Dr. Henry’s report.
This “prohibitionist approach” also creates the “toxic unregulated drug supply” that has resulted in more than 14,000 overdoses deaths since B.C. first declared the public-health emergency in April 2016, she said.
“For some, a safer alternative to unregulated drugs could have been the right support,” she wrote. “Ultimately, we cannot prescribe our way out of this crisis. Finding new ways to enable access to alternatives to unregulated drugs will require bold conversations, system-level changes, and thinking outside of the constraints that have so far failed to turn this crisis around.”
Putting a system in place that allows users to access regulated alternatives to fentanyl and other drugs builds on Canada’s current food and drug laws, she said.
“Access to quality-controlled drugs that are not subject to such unpredictability and that helps separate people already using drugs from the unregulated drug supply would result in fewer poisonings and deaths,” she added. “This is a logical extension of the principle applied to other consumable products.”
Expansion of safer supply programming is just one part of dealing with the drug crisis, the report said, adding that prevention and treatment are also key components.
“Addiction is a health issue and people struggling with addiction need access to the full continuum of services provided by our health-care system,” she said in the statement. “Prescribed alternatives to street drugs are an option to separate people who are at the highest risk of death and harm from the poisoned drug supply.”
BC United leader Kevin Falcon and leader of the Official Opposition said his party rejects the legitimization of illicit drug use.
B.C. Conservative MLA Elenore Sturko described Dr. Henry’s stance as “deeply troubling.”
“The idea that hard drugs could be sold in various formats and compositions with government-determined pricing is reckless. This government would effectively be using taxpayer dollars to subsidize drug trafficking and there’s no oversight to where the drugs go after they’re sold.”
Only the Green Party appeared to support Dr. Henry’s findings. Leader Sonia Furstenau accused the other parties of “ignoring expert advice in favour of sensational headlines.”
B.C. was the first province in Canada to decriminalize drug use as part of a three-year pilot project with Health Canada. The federal agency issued an exemption to its drug laws in January 2023, decriminalizing possession of up to 2.5 grams of certain illegal drugs, including heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine.
The federal government approved the recriminalization request on May 7.
B.C. has been grappling with a drug overdose crisis for more than eight years. Last year’s decriminalization pilot project was supposed to help address the issue with a focus on safer supply drugs.
No area of the province is immune to the ongoing toxic-drug crisis, the report said, adding that the areas hardest hit continue to be Vancouver, Surrey, and Nanaimo.