After years-long denial of drug trafficking, BC govt curtails safe supply
B.C.’s New Democrat government continued the slow-motion, highly-reluctant reversal of its progressive drug policies Wednesday — as a new minister and a frustrated premier rolled back the province’s safe supply program just minutes before they would have had to defend it publicly on the floor of the legislature.
Health Minister Josie Osborne ended the practice of allowing people with addictions to take multiple days worth of prescribed government opioids home from pharmacies, amid overwhelming evidence many of those pills were being traded or resold to organized criminals.
Instead, they will have to consume the government hydromorphone (brand name, Dilaudid) in front of a healthcare worker, as part of change from what’s called unwitnessed, to witnessed, safe supply.
“This is life saving medication for those people, but we need to balance the need to keep communities safe, and people safe, our kids and others safe too,” said Osborne.
It is the second major reversal of NDP drug policy in 10 months, after it functionally ended decriminalization of illicit drugs in public places last April following widespread street disorder and concerns by police.
The government brought in unwitnessed safe supply during the COVID-19 pandemic. But it has faced two years of rising criticism that the diversion of those free prescription drugs into the hands of criminals has fuelled a new source of illicit street activity and, in some cases, led to new addictions that could otherwise have been prevented.
Leaked report refutes years-long denial of diversion
Up until just this month, Premier David Eby and his ministers have downplayed the risk of diversion, saying there was not enough evidence it was even happening and that many of the concerns were simply fear-mongering.
But the leak of an internal report this month, written by a government investigative unit and delivered to police, shattered whatever remained of that political illusion and left the NDP defenceless on the issue.
“A significant portion of the opioids being freely prescribed by doctors and pharmacists are not being consumed by their intended recipients,” read the report.
“Prescribed alternatives are trafficked provincially, nationally and internationally.”
Osborne decried the leak as “shameful” at the time — but on Wednesday leaned heavily on the still-not-yet-officially-released-report to justify the change.
“It is the information that we have learned through those investigations that has led to decisions that are being announced today,” she said.
“It’s important to act on that evidence when we get it. And I am not going to be making knee-jerk reactions.”
Reversal announced minutes before legislative scrutiny
Despite the claim, the move had all the hallmarks of knee-jerk political panic.
The back-down occurred fewer than 60 minutes before the first question period of the spring legislative session, with the newly resurgent BC Conservative opposition calling for a public inquiry into the safe supply program.
Rather than defend it, the NDP government tossed the program under the bus at the last possible moment, and then used the decision to try and pivot out of the political hot seat.
Longtime advocates of the program were stunned by the news. Osborne did not even consult with B.C.’s provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, who strongly supported expanding unwitnessed safe supply (Dr. Henry’s office says she’s currently away on vacation).
The only group that appears to have got a heads up was B.C.’s Association of Chiefs of Police, who were quick to issue a statement of support — a printed copy of which was already in the hands of the premier moments later for him to cite as backup while he was shellacked by the opposition during question period.
Fresh eyes with a runway to pivot
The rollback appears partly a result of Osborne’s new eyes on the controversy, after replacing longtime health minister Adrian Dix, and absorbing the now-shuttered addictions ministry of Jennifer Whiteside. Rather than repeat the same tired defence of the program, she evaluated where it was at, and changed it.
“As the new minister, of course, receiving the information around this evidence and the information that has come to light, that’s why we’re here today,” she said.
But Osborne was also clearly given the runway to pivot by Premier Eby, who wrote into her mandate letter orders to reduce the diversion of government drugs into the hands of criminals.
“My mandate letter is very clear about the expectations that the premier has about providing additional safeguards and taking this kind of action,” said Osborne.
The change was bittersweet for Conservative critic Elenore Sturko, who spent two years highlighting the diversion issue and calling for reforms, only to be labelled a fear-mongerer by the NDP and accused of stigmatizing the most vulnerable residents and politicizing a life-saving initiative.
Turns out Sturko, a former RCMP officer, was right.
Full stop.
Even the government’s own internal reports back what she’s been saying since 2023.
‘It made me emotional’
Sturko became overwhelmed with emotion at the news Wednesday, going so far as to shake Osborne’s hand in front of all the cameras and thank her for the decision.
“It made me emotional, because it made me think of the very first time that a parent had called me and their child had died of a fentanyl overdose, and they found these safe supply hydromorphone [pills] in their room, and they had started their path to addiction from diverted safe supply,” said Sturko.
“And so now we’re here. I asked my first question in February 2023.”
Sturko did not pull her punches though with the premier and the other ministers who allowed this program to drift so badly off course while claiming otherwise.
“This experiment is not harm reduction,” she said. “It was not proven to reduce harm. In fact, we saw the opposite of that in our province.
“As glad as I am to see this action being taken, I feel devastated for the people that I know who are out there that were harmed by this program.”
Problem doesn’t originate with pharmacies, says Sturko
Osborne cited allegations that 60 pharmacies (roughly five per cent of all those in B.C.) may have been involved in an illegal kickback scheme to rack up dispensing fees from safe supply clients and use the money to bribe other people to their stores.
The government will be changing dispensing rules and continuing its investigations, she said.
“This isn’t a problem that originates with pharmacies,” said Sturko.
“It is a terrible policy that allowed for this exploitation by bad actors to take place. But the real bad actors are those that ignored years of evidence that this was causing harm downplaying it, denying it to the detriment of our province, fuelling addiction, fuelling the fentanyl trade, and putting money into the hands of criminals.”
The rollback of decriminalization and safe supply is expected to be followed this spring by Premier Eby’s new policies on involuntary care, which will allow the government to detain those with concurrent addictions and brain injuries and treat them against their will.
As the NDP completes a 180-degree reversal on its drug policies, all within the span of a year.