Feds ease rules for supervised drug injection sites
New legislation would eliminate strict requirements put in place by the Conservative government
The federal government is adopting a public-health approach to its drug control strategy, Health Minister Jane Philpott said Monday as she unveiled proposed new measures that would open the door to more supervised injection sites in Canada.
Newly tabled legislation would, if passed, eliminate 26 strict requirements for new “consumption” sites put in place by the previous Conservative government, all within parameters set out by the Supreme Court, Philpott said.
“We need to take swift action on the opioid crisis to save lives,” she told a news conference in the foyer of the House of Commons, describing the current fentanyl crisis as national in scope.
“We must confront the fact there will be no quick reversal of the current situation.”
Currently, applicants for new injection sites must provide medical and scientific evidence of benefit, along with stakeholder letters from provincial health ministers, local police and regional health officials — stringent criteria that advocates say made it all but impossible to establish new sites.
A number of applications for sites are currently under review, and the government intends to provide updates to make it clear in those cases what needs to be done to win approval, Philpott said.
“The circumstances of every community will be different,” she said. “That’s why it’s important that communities work together in their locations to be able to address their unique circumstances.”
In places like downtown Vancouver, which is on the front line of the fentanyl problem, people are dying every
day, she added.
“The evidence is very clear that when they are well established and well maintained in communities that want and need the, supervised consumption sites save lives and do not have a negative impact on crime rates in the community,” she said.
“We will encourage everyone to have that public health approach, to recognize this is a health crisis and we need to provide the appropriate resources.”
There are currently two drug injection sites in Canada — both in Vancouver.
The new legislation would, if passed, lift a restriction that prevents border guards from inspecting packages that are under 30 grams in weight — even if they have reason to believe the packages contain illegal drugs.
It would also place new restrictions on the import of pill presses and encapsulators, two machines commonly used in the production of illicit drugs.
In Hamilton, city officials are exploring the possibility of safe injection sites.
“These are entirely preventable deaths,” Dr. Jessica Hopkins, associate medical officer of health, told city councillors recently.
Fentanyl, a potent painkiller that’s100 times stronger than morphine, is typically prescribed in a patch.
But bootleg versions — in powder and liquid form, as well as mixed into other drugs — have been popping up on the streets in unpredictable potencies.
Of the province’s 685 opioid-related deaths last year, 162 of them were specifically linked to fentanyl. In Hamilton alone, there were 19 fentanyl deaths last year (up from 10 in 2014).
This fall, the city put out a survey to residents, asking for their views on safer injection sites. Of 1,690 respondents, 84 per cent said they would be supportive of having supervised injection sites here in Hamilton.
Last week, the Waterloo Integrated Drug Strategy issued an overdose warning that counterfeit pills that looked like OxyContin found last month in the region contained carfentanil, a very highly potent opioid.
The pills were seized by Waterloo Regional Police who believe they’re linked to recent non-fatal overdoses in Kitchener and Cambridge.
A tiny dosage of the drug used to sedate elephants can be fatal.
“Twenty micrograms equals a grain of salt and it’s enough to kill you,” said Michael Parkinson of the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council.
NDP justice critic Murray Rankin, who represents the riding of Victoria, said he’s pleased to see the new changes — but disappointed it has taken more than a year since the Liberals took power for them to come to the fore.
“Listen, I had — in one week — five people in the city of Victoria die,” Rankin said.
“This government taking these steps now is appreciated ... but it is hardly adequate and in the time it is going to take to debate these changes ... dozens of people are going to die.”
In British Columbia alone, officials say there have been 622 drug overdose deaths between January and October, about 60 per cent of them involve fentanyl.
“It’s very clear that British Columbia is facing extraordinary circumstances,” Philpott said.
Health officials and political leaders have sounded the alarm about a dramatic spike in opioid deaths across Canada. The issue was the focus of a national summit held in Ottawa last month that brought together experts from across the country.
Last month, the federal government also announced plans to more closely regulate six chemicals that are principal ingredients in the making of fentanyl.
The RCMP are also reportedly working with China to stanch the flow of fentanyl from across the Pacific Ocean.
RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson and Chen Zhimin, the viceminister of China’s public security ministry, agreed to boost efforts to disrupt the flow of the drug and other opioids.
Fentanyl and other opioids pose a grave threat to community safety in Canada, Paulson said at the time.
These are entirely preventable deaths. DR. JESSICA HOPKINS, HAMILTON’S ASSOCIATE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH