ON THE FRONT LINES OF FENTANYL
B.C. Health Minister Terry Lake wants the federal government to take action to stop other countries from smuggling deadly fentanyl into Canada. Meanwhile, a Nanaimo physician is pushing the provincial government to step up funding for drug-addiction clinics.
PART FIVE IN A SERIES
B.C. Health Minister Terry Lake lies awake at night worrying and wondering why the federal government is allowing other countries to smuggle deadly fentanyl into our country.
“There’s a headline in the Kamloops paper today,” Lake said in an interview last Friday. “A young man at a wedding using cocaine and he died. And this is a story we’ve heard again and again and again. That is not addiction. This is poisoning.”
If any other chemical agent poisoning Canadians were coming through our borders, the federal government would try to stop that poison from coming in, Lake said.
“We need at the highest levels to figure out a way to do something about these poisonous chemicals coming in from other countries,” Lake said. “Our government needs to talk to those governments and make them aware Canadians are being poisoned through activities in their countries.”
Lake is pressing the federal government to move quicker on legislation to restrict pill presses and to make the application process for supervised consumption sites faster and simpler.
Under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, pill presses used in the illicit manufacturing of controlled substances can be considered offence-related property and seized by law enforcement.
Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott has confirmed that she intends to bring forward legislative options on the issue of pill presses.
“At the health ministers meeting this past week in Toronto, I was very passionate about the need for other provinces to be aware of what’s going on in B.C. and in Alberta, and that they get ready,” Lake said.
He believes the most important thing the province can do is continue its efforts. “We’ve used every tool we can think of in our tool box. Soon you will see advertising on major television to create the awareness and continue what we’ve done on social media.”
Lake is cautiously optimistic that the number of deaths from illicit drug overdoses is stabilizing. The latest statistics released by the B.C. Coroners Service show 555 people have died of illicit drug overdoses this year. Fentanyl was detected in 61 per cent of the deaths from January through August. There were 80 illicit-drug overdoses in January, 76 in March, 65 in April.
“So 56 in September is among the lowest third of the first nine months. Had we not done what we’ve done, I fear the numbers would be much, much higher than they are,” Lake said.
First responders, the B.C. Centre for Disease Control and health authorities are all involved in creating awareness and preventing overdoses.
The government is on track to create 500 extra treatment beds for 2017, but treatment beds are not the only answer, Lake said.
“You don’t necessarily need to be in a residential program to find treatment. There are all kinds of different approaches. You have to be really cautious not to think there’s any one solution. Everyone agrees how to fix a broken arm — but when you come to mentalhealth and substance-use issues, different things work for different people.”
Although the government has done an enormous amount of work, Lake knows it will never seem enough for families affected by this tragedy. “But I can assure all those families this is something we are working extremely hard on and we’ve done an awful lot that has prevented hundreds and hundreds of deaths.”
Clayton Pecknold, director of police services, is co-chairman of the task force on overdose response formed by Premier Christy Clark in July. He believes B.C.’s co-ordinated response involving both health and law enforcement is the right approach to the fentanyl-overdose crisis.
Other provinces are sitting up and taking note of what’s happening in B.C., Pecknold said.
The antidote naloxone is now in the hands of 6,000 to 9,000 police officers in B.C.
“We’re definitely ahead of the game here,” Pecknold said. “The RCMP nationally came out to issue naloxone to its members ... That’s the result of our push. We said: ‘Get on it. Get on it fast.’ ”
Pecknold is also pushing for a national strategy on interdiction at the borders. Like the health minister, he believes the Canadian government should be putting pressure on the Chinese and Mexican governments to crack down on the “poison” smuggled into our country.
Most of Canada’s illicit fentanyl supply is manufactured in China. It is ordered online and mailed in packages weighing less than 30 grams, which Canada Border Services Agency officers are not allowed to open without the consent of the recipient. More than a million packages under 30 grams come into Canada from China every month.
When she created the task force, Clark called on the agency to search small packages for fentanyl. That hasn’t happened yet, Pecknold said.
Canada Border Services Agency officers need to be given the equipment, training and legal authority to intercept the drugs, he said.
Two weeks ago, Victoria police announced they are working with the City of Victoria and Island Health to set up a safe-consumption site. Acting Police Chief Del Manak said the department supports supervised consumption sites if they’re part of an approach that incorporates comprehensive treatment services.
Pecknold knows communities are concerned about public disorder stemming from safe consumpton sites. “But it’s been proven that safe consumption reduces harm and saves lives, so we just ask people to look at it very much from a health perspective.”
Pecknold, who was a young constable during the 1980s’ Wars on Drugs, said there has been a huge evolution in how people now look at addiction as a health issue that can be treated.
“Whether you are a police officer or a health professional, we’re all about saving lives and helping treat addiction. But when it comes to those who profit from addictions and the misery of others, including organized crime, we take a different approach.
“I have no mercy for them.”