No, a B.C. company can’t sell you cocaine now
British Columbians who tuned into the news last Thursday might have gone to bed that night thinking they could soon be buying cocaine as easily as they can purchase a beer.
In question period at the legislature Thursday morning the B.C. Liberals grilled the government about Langley-based cannabis company Adastra Holdings’ Feb. 22 announcement saying it had been granted federal permission to “legally possess, produce, sell and distribute” cocaine.
At the time, the publicly traded company said it wished to position itself to align with ongoing harm reduction efforts and to “meet the demand for a safe supply of cocaine.”
“Cocaine isn’t prescribed, it isn’t safe, and this is wrong,” said leader of the opposition Kevin Falcon in the legislature. “Commercializing cocaine as a business opportunity amounts to legalizing cocaine trafficking, full stop.”
He blamed B.C.’s decriminalization pilot program for the announcement, despite the fact it does not legalize the sale or manufacturing of any drug.
“The NDP’s plunge headlong into decriminalization without the proper guardrails that even the federal government insisted should be in place is absolutely not something that we’re going to support on this side of the house,” said Falcon, who previously supported the decriminalization pilot.
The opposition and some experts have characterized safe supply, a harm reduction measure an expert panel convened by the chief coroner has repeatedly called for, as a “public supply of addictive drugs.”
Some media outlets had already reported Adastra’s announcement earlier Thursday morning. Following the exchange in question period, the news cycle spiralled.
In response to a question from Global News at St. Paul’s Hospital Thursday afternoon, Premier David Eby said he was “astonished” the province hadn’t been aware of Health Canada’s decision to grant Adastra an exemption to handle cocaine.
Eby said a prescribed safe supply of cocaine, which some public health experts and drug user rights advocates have called for, “is not part of our provincial plan” to address the toxic drug crisis.
The attention appeared good for Adastra’s business. The company’s stock price rose sharply from 75 cents last Thursday morning to $1.60 by 10:30 a.m. the next day, its highest since October 2020.
But by the time many people were taking their afternoon coffee breaks, the concern from both parties was revealed to be largely unfounded.
And public health experts and advocates say in their outrage, both leaders ignored that a safe supply of cocaine would save lives in B.C.’s toxic drug crisis that has killed more than 11,000 since 2016.
What the license allows
Adastra had received an amended dealer’s license through a Section 56 exemption from the federal Controlled Drugs and Substances Act granted by Health Canada, according to its Feb. 22 statement.
That exemption is the same mechanism that allowed North America’s first supervised consumption site, Insite, to open in Vancouver and for B.C. to decriminalize small amounts of some drugs for personal use in January.
Adastra’s amended license allows the company to produce up to 250 grams of cocaine per year and import coca leaves to synthesize the substance. It is also allowed to handle up to 1,000 grams of hallucinogenic psilocybin annually.
Cocaine has some legal uses including as a topical local anesthetic and to prevent excess bleeding in some nose and throat surgeries in B.C. and Canada, as authorized by Health Canada.
Selling, manufacturing or trafficking cocaine or other illicit drugs remains illegal under B.C.’s decriminalization pilot plan.
But Adastra’s license does not permit it to sell or distribute cocaine to the general public, Health Canada clarified in a statement late Thursday evening. It can only deal with other licensed facilities, hospitals, pharmacists and research teams with their own exemptions that include cocaine, a fact the agency reminded Adastra swiftly.
Neither Adastra or the Liberals had mentioned that key piece of information, until Adastra retracted part of its previous statement the next afternoon.
“The Dealer’s Licence issued to Adastra Labs does not permit Adastra Labs to sell coca leaf, psilocybin or cocaine to the general public,” it said.