VICTORIA — British Columbia’s provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, joked that “the earth shook” when her report on the safer medicines program was released Thursday, referring to an earthquake that was lightly felt on Vancouver Island that morning.
VICTORIA — British Columbia’s provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, joked that “the earth shook” when her report on the safer medicines program was released Thursday, referring to an earthquake that was lightly felt on Vancouver Island that morning.
But her report’s recommendation that British Columbia consider making alternatives to unregulated drugs available without a prescription was much more widely supported.
Her proposal was immediately rejected by the government, while opposition parties BC Conservatives and BC United argued that she should lose her job.
Henry said drug interdiction strategies had not only failed to control access to controlled substances, but had also created a toxic, unregulated drug supply that had claimed more than 14,000 lives since British Columbia declared a state of emergency eight years ago.
“Ultimately, we cannot dictate our way out of this crisis,” Henry said in the report. “Finding new ways to provide access to alternatives to unregulated medicines will require bold conversations, systems-level changes, and thinking outside the constraints that have so far failed to reverse this crisis.”
She said a system that provides access to safer, regulated alternatives to fentanyl and other drugs is needed because a significant number of those who died did not have a substance use disorder and could not be protected by “medicalized approaches.” Non-prescription access should therefore be looked at more closely.
“I think we all don’t want people to use drugs, especially drugs that are harmful,” Henry said at a news conference Thursday. “But the reality is that there are people who do it for all sorts of reasons, a lot of which have to do with their own personal trauma and their own personal issues that they’re struggling with.”
Henry said expanding safer supplies would be just one intervention in the drug crisis, requiring “a whole suite” of initiatives on multiple fronts, such as prevention and treatment.
In a written response to Henry’s report, Mental Health and Addictions Minister Jennifer Whiteside said the province disagrees with the recommendation and “will not move toward” “non-medical models of medication distribution.”
Whiteside echoed earlier comments from British Columbia Premier David Eby about safer medicines, saying the model of providing safer medicines through prescriptions “separates people at greatest risk of death and harm from the toxic supply of medicines.”
“Dr. Henry is an important independent voice on public health issues in this province, and we respect her advice,” Whiteside said. “However, this is an area where we disagree.
“Addiction is a health problem and people struggling with addiction need access to the full range of services our health care system provides.”
Henry’s report echoed the findings of former chief coroner Lisa Lapointe, who said in January, before leaving her post, that safer prescription drugs would not solve the crisis that has claimed more than 14,000 lives in British Columbia since 2016.
Eby rejected Lapointe’s requests at the time, saying he did not believe opioid medications should be distributed without the supervision of medical personnel.
According to Henry’s latest report, 225,000 or more people in British Columbia have access to unregulated drugs, and fentanyl remains the leading cause of death, with 83 percent of illicit drug deaths linked to the opioid.
Henry said the distribution of safer prescription drugs faces “barriers and challenges” due to the system’s limited capacity.
The Conservatives said in a written statement that the party wanted Henry’s “immediate resignation” and called her recommendations “deeply disturbing”, “shocking” and “irresponsible”.
Conservative MP Elenore Sturko said in an interview that Henry’s recommendations reflected an ideological approach to British Columbia’s drug policy consistent with initiatives such as last year’s decriminalization of small amounts of hard drugs.
“If the prime minister is interested in solving the crisis … then he needs to make that signal clear, change direction and appoint someone who can provide a fresh perspective.”
Henry also said a “compassion club” model for the supply of over-the-counter drugs should be explored. The report cited as an example the Drug User Liberation Front (DULF) program, which Sturko criticized.
DULF co-founders Jeremy Kalicum and Eris Nyx were arrested last October and charged with drug possession with the intent to traffic. After about a year, the “compassion club” was shut down.
According to Henry, the report does not endorse DULF’s activities, but does describe academic research into its results.
BC United leader Kevin Falcon said in an interview that Henry would no longer be provincial health officer if he became premier.
He said the province should focus on free treatment and recovery assistance, not on providing more access to alternative medicines.
“I don’t want to stigmatize drug users,” he said. “But I absolutely want to stigmatize drug use, in the same way we stigmatized smokers when we said we wouldn’t allow open smoking in public places, on beaches, in parks, on playgrounds, in office buildings, in restaurants.”
The BC Greens said in a statement that they support Henry’s findings and that “ignoring expert advice in favour of sensational headlines and political narratives is dangerously irresponsible.”
“The ‘war on drugs’ has never been successful,” BC Greens Leader Sonia Furstenau said in the statement. “It only makes the problem worse.”
British Columbia’s current policy of safer supply has been hotly debated beyond the province’s borders, with both federal Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith alleging that drugs from the program were being diverted to the rest of Canada.
On Thursday, Laila Goodridge, the Conservative Party’s shadow minister for addictions, called on British Columbia to reject Henry’s recommendations and focus on “treatment and recovery.”
Attorney General Mike Farnworth said there was no evidence of widespread diversion of safer drugs. Henry said in the latest report that “anecdotes may not reflect the experiences of most people prescribed alternatives to unregulated drugs.”
“Continued monitoring, evaluation and research are needed to assess the extent to which distraction occurs and its consequences,” Henry said in the 88-page report.
Henry also criticized prohibition-based drug policies, saying Canada has a long history of such laws “rooted in racism, colonialism and xenophobia.”
— By Chuck Chiang in Vancouver
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 11, 2024.
The Canadian Press
