TRUDEAU’S DRUG PROBLEM
Opioids, pharmacare and marijuana add up to a Liberal headache.
No one plans to acquire a drug problem over the course of a lifetime — and neither do governments.
Yet Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is nearing its midpoint in power surrounded by drug problems: serious issues to confront about legal, illegal and almostlegal substances. Two years ago, as they campaigned for office, most of these issues were not high (pardon the pun) on the Liberals’ agenda.
First, the legal drugs. The federal Liberals’ old allies at Queen’s Park threw a deliberate curveball at Ottawa in the latest provincial budget when they introduced pharmacare for all Ontario healthcard holders under the age of 25.
Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins made it very clear in the wake of the budget announcement that this was intended as a call to action for the Trudeau government in Ottawa.
“I think if there is one message today it’s that this is possible,” Hoskins said, promising to keep up his advocacy for a nationwide program. “It’s doable.”
Health-care reform advocates are also keen to see this as a historic tipping point toward a future with national pharmacare in it.
But pharmacare is not anywhere near the top of the federal government’s to-do list at present. Health Minister Jane Philpott has been saying repeatedly that her mandate, as far as it concerns drug prices and availability, is limited to getting better deals within the status quo.
The Commons health committee has been studying the idea of a national pharmacare program off and on since late 2015. As recently as February, in fact, the committee was hearing from experts on how a national drug plan might fit into the Constitution. But neither Philpott nor her government has shown much enthusiasm for the committee’s work — at least so far.
Ontario’s gambit may change that, basically forcing the federal Liberals to get serious about pharmacare before the next election.
Moreover, this week’s census report — showing that Canada now has more seniors than children — could also factor into those political deliberations. Seniors are the biggest users of pharmaceuticals in Canada and also the most likely to show up at the ballot box. As the Star’s Thomas Walkom has noted, if pharmacare makes sense for young people in Ontario, it also makes sense for seniors. Now that the door has been opened to pharmacare, it’s going to be hard for Ottawa to close it.
Meanwhile, apart from all the discussion over legal drugs, there are the illegal — and increasingly dangerous — ones for the Liberals to worry about. Deaths and overdoses from opioid use are now being called a “public health crisis” by the federal government and an increasing amount of Philpott’s time is being taken up with how to tackle it.
“This is not a political or a partisan issue. This is one of the most serious public health crises that we have faced in this country,” Philpott told the Commons health committee last month. Two years ago, though, opioid abuse wasn’t mentioned in the official mandate letter that Philpott received when she was sworn into cabinet.
Really, the only drug that figured prominently into the Liberals’ platform in 2015 was marijuana — specifically, its legalization, which only recently got underway. People have noticed, though, that the tone around marijuana has markedly changed — it’s become less about liberalization of drug laws and more about stricter controls and discipline. Funny how power has changed that discussion.
Speaking of power shifts, I’ve been watching a lot more of CNN since the U.S. presidential election. One big surprise has been the commercials — I had no idea that Americans were suffering from so many ailments that required pharmaceutical intervention.
Drugs, legal and illegal, seem to be rampant all over the States. I was reading some profiles of typical Donald Trump voters recently and was surprised by the ways that many of their lives had plunged into despair after pharmaceutical drug abuse. Some early post-election research also found that Trump had fared better in electoral districts with high rates of drug addiction.
“Recent analyses suggest a relationship between Trump support and opiate overdoses in key states and provide potential explanations for why Trump received so much support in America’s new postindustrial ‘heroin beltway,’” said a research brief from Penn State University in late 2016.
Given the Trudeau government’s ongoing preoccupation with Trump’s America — and its determination not to see Canada’s politics go down the same road — the Liberals may be paying closer attention these days to the way drugs and politics are turning into a powerful, unpredictable political mix.
That’s the thing about drug problems. You may not see them coming, but they can quickly become allconsuming, for individuals and for governments. sdelacourt@bell.net