Mandatory treatment? Decriminalization? As opioid epidemic rages, Canadians seek extreme measures to save lives
With the number of opioid related deaths in this country expected to surpass 4,000 in 2018, Canadians continue to search for answers – and consider more extreme measures – to address what half call a serious problem (46 per cent) and one-quarter (24 per cent) view as a crisis.
The latest public opinion survey from the Angus Reid Institute finds more than eight-in-10 Canadians (85 per cent) say they would support mandatory treatment for anyone dealing with an opioid addiction. Further, half (48 per cent) are willing to explore the decriminalization of all drugs in Canada. Public health officials in Vancouver and Toronto have recently proposed such a change in order to reduce fentanyl related overdose deaths.
But three years into a state of emergency in British Columbia, and despite $230 million in new funding to fight the opioid epidemic from the federal government, many say neither Ottawa (45 per cent), nor their own provinces (43 per cent) have done enough, and continue to call for more resources allocated to the epidemic.
Meantime, the prevalence of this issue continues to grow, hitting closer to home for many Canadians. The percentage who now say this is a serious problem or crisis within their own communities has risen eight points in the 14 months since the Angus Reid Institute last asked – from one-third (33 per cent) to 41 per cent.
More Key Findings:
- One-in-five Canadians (17 per cent) say they have a close friend or family member who has dealt with opioid addiction or dependence, while seven per cent say someone close to them has experienced an opiate-related overdose;
- Concern within ones own community has risen in every region of the country since November 2017. The largest increases in concern are in Manitoba (+18 points) and Alberta (+13 points), though concern remains highest in British Columbia overall at 52 per cent;
- Two-thirds of Canadians (66 per cent) and at least sixin-10 across all age demographics say they support supervised-injection sites as a means to address opioid related deaths.
The full poll can be viewed at angusreid.org/opioidcrisis-2019/ Agricultural Producers Association
of Saskatchewan
The Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS) used its intervenor status in the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal reference case on the Federal Carbon Tax to argue that the federal government is overstepping constitutional boundaries.
As the factum of the intervenor prepared by lawyers from Miller and Thomson on APAS’ behalf states:
“It is clear that both the purpose and the effect of the Act is to regulate local industry, business and consumer activity – in a very specific way chosen by Canada – in order to endeavour to reduce GHGS. Such regulation falls into the provincial power over trade, commerce, property and civil rights in the Province, pursuant to s. 92(13) of the Constitution Act, 1867.”
Beyond the constitutional issues, APAS has long argued that the carbon tax will have a disproportionate impact on farmers and ranchers as well as rural Saskatchewan.
APAS President Todd Lewis points to all the costs that producers incur which will be impacted by a carbon tax, such as heating barns, drying grain, road transportation of crops and livestock, fertilizer, rail transportation and other crop inputs and manufactured goods.
“When its cold, we can’t just decide to turn off the heat in livestock buildings; when we have a wet harvest like we did in 2018 we have no choice but to dry our grain with propane or it will rot. These costs are not optional expenses and they add up,” he says, also noting that the Federal Department of Agriculture has acknowledged that there are few alternate technologies that are available to producers in these instances.
“As producers, we already look for every possible cost savings, because we can’t pass those costs along,” Lewis says. “And if you reduce our financial ability to adopt new technologies, it defeats the purpose of the carbon tax.”