The BC NDP told British Columbians to trust Dr. Henry’s judgement during the pandemic. Now it’s saying the opposite on the drug crisis.
There are 89 pages in Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry’s new report recommending ways to relax drug B.C.’s laws. But you don’t have to read any of them. Because virtually nothing written there will actually happen.
Political parties across the spectrum, both provincially and federally, scrambled quickly Thursday to distance themselves from Henry, if not out-right attack her for the latest round of proposals.
None except the BC Greens appear to believe there is any public appetite to move towards the future Henry outlined in her report, of widely-available, free, government-supplied drugs like heroin and fentanyl, available at government retail outlets like cannabis, and consumed freely in local compassion clubs.
The BC NDP government responded almost faster than its critics Thursday in denouncing Henry’s report. Only minutes after she finished her press conference, Addictions Minister Jennifer Whiteside issued a statement.
“This is a topic we do not agree on,” said Whiteside. “The province will not go in the direction of compassion clubs and other non-medical models of distributing medications.”
It’s at least the fourth time in the last year that the NDP government has rejected Henry’s drug advice.
Last fall, it refused to consider moving away from the requirement of a prescription to access the existing safe supply program. In February, it dismissed Henry’s report on expanding the types and quantities of drugs in safe supply.
In June, Premier David Eby said he profoundly disagreed with his provincial health officer’s testimony to a federal committee of MPs that B.C. should pursue legalizing and regulating toxic drugs.
“I cannot fathom how distributing government crack, or government crystal meth, is going to help people struggling in that way,” Eby told the CHEK program This is VANCOLOUR on June 20.
Drugs sold retail could keep people alive, says PHO
Henry’s report described limits to the existing safe supply program, which is failing to reach everyone who needs it due to the current requirement for a prescription. More than 14,000 people have died of toxic drugs during the eight-year public health emergency.
“I feel it’s very important in the work that we’ve done… that we need to continue the conversation on all of the pieces that we can have in place to support people to stay alive during this crisis,” she told reporters.
“This model would support individual agency and offer independence from medicalized rules and surveillance,”
Alternatives to Unregulated Drugs report
“And to me that includes continuing to investigate how we can safely put in place access for people to alternatives to these very toxic street drug supplies.”
Henry’s report also contains the scenario of a “retail-based approach” where unregulated hard drugs manufactured cleanly by government could be available in government-run or private stores.
“This model would support individual agency and offer independence from medicalized rules and surveillance,” read the report.
Critics dismiss drug plan as ‘irresponsible’
The idea of B.C. government heroin stores did not land well amongst political parties.
“BC United completely rejects the NDP’s radical agenda to legitimize illicit drug use,” United leader Kevin Falcon posted on social media.
“We must make a dramatic shift towards treatment, recovery and rigorous enforcement against drug trafficking to protect our communities.”
The BC Conservatives tied Henry and the NDP together directly.
“Today we learned that the radical BC NDP plan to put hard drugs on the shelves of retail spaces in British Columbia,” said the party Leader John Rustad called it “not only shocking but also incredibly irresponsible.” He repeated his pledge to fire Henry.
The NDP, though, couldn’t fire Henry even if it wanted to. Health Minister Adrian Dix, who worked closely with her during the pandemic, simply would not allow it. And the headache that would come from dismissing a figure who was widely-beloved during the pandemic is not worth the hassle for the NDP just two and a half months before the provincial election campaign begins.
Instead, Eby has begun bypassing Henry on drug policy. He announced his own “chief scientific advisor” on toxic drugs in June, Dr. Daneil Vigo, and empowered him to research how to help the hardest-to-treat British Columbians struggling with addictions, mental health and brain damage issues. Henry was not included.
Still, it won’t be easy for the New Democrats to get out from under the public linkage between themselves and Henry. The governing party spent more than two years during the COVID-19 pandemic telling British Columbians they needed to trust Dr. Henry’s judgement as the province’s top medical official and follow her advice on public health issues.
Now it is saying the exact opposite on the toxic drug public health crisis — while expecting people to know the difference.
‘This is my best advice’
Henry admitted Thursday she knows she’s offside with both public opinion and politicians in continuing to push the issue of regulating hard drugs.
“This is my best advice about where we need to go now,” she said.
“We elect people to make those important decisions. My job is to put out there, what we could do, how we might go about it, what I think are the important health issues that we need to address.
“And if people don’t appreciate the work that we’re doing then that is probably their right to replace me with somebody who they are more aligned with. And that’s part of the job that I do as well. But I stand by this report.”
Unfortunately, not many politicians are standing behind her in support of her ideas anymore.