Liberals to alter drug policy as opioid deaths spike
B.C. had record number of monthly drug deaths in June
OTTAWA — The Liberal government is taking steps toward promised changes to federal drug policy and looking at how to reduce opioid-related deaths during the pandemic.
Ottawa launched a national consultation on supervised-consumption sites this week, seeking comments from those who operate the sites and those who use them.
“The evidence shows us that supervised-consumption sites and services save lives and can provide people who use drugs with access to health and social services and treatment,” federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu said in a statement Thursday.
The federal government also announced Thursday it was committing $582,000 in funding for a new Toronto project to offer a safe supply of opioids to reduce overdose deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic.
These initiatives come in the wake of a concerning spike in opioid-related deaths since the pandemic began in Canada.
B.C. registered a record number of monthly drug toxicity deaths in June after 175 people were killed by overdoses — the second consecutive month of record high overdose deaths. Overdoses also killed 201 people in Ontario in June, the highest number of drug-related deaths in a single month in that province.
Health and law enforcement officials across Canada are calling for more immediate actions by provincial and federal governments.
The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, B.C.’s provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, and B.C. Premier John Horgan have called on the federal government to decriminalize hard drugs. Donald MacPherson, director of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, said public health policies need to stop stigmatizing people with addictions.
“With COVID-19 we’re trying to change people’s behaviour, we’re trying to get people to social distance and follow good public health guidelines. Well, decriminalization would be the same,” MacPherson explained.
“We’re trying to change the police’s behaviour, so that they become part of the team that helps people as opposed to putting fear into people who possess drugs and we’re trying to change the behaviour of people who possess drugs by saying, ‘Look, you’re not a criminal anymore. Come into health services. Let us know who you are and we’ll try and help.”’
Separately, federal prosecutors are now also being instructed to prosecute only the most serious drug offences that raise public safety concerns and to find alternatives outside the criminal justice system for the rest.
That directive is contained in a new guideline issued by the director of public prosecutions, Kathleen Roussel, who is independent from the federal Justice Department.
In all instances, alternatives to prosecution should be considered if the offence involves a person enrolled in a drug treatment court program or an addiction program supervised by a health professional, the guideline says.
Criminal prosecution for possession of a controlled substance “should generally be reserved for the most serious manifestations of the offence,” the guideline says.