“If you are in the midst of an emergency as we are, and had true evidence a program was working… you wouldn’t stop funding [it].”
–Elenore Sturko
The B.C. government has stepped in with millions of dollars in emergency funding to keep several safe supply sites open, after the federal government decided to back away from the program and let its support lapse.
The sites are mainly located in Vancouver Coastal Health and Island Health, and received funding under Ottawa’s Substance Use and Addictions Program (SUAP). The federal government had always labeled the money as “time-limited” support for community non-profits aiming to provide “evidence-informed” programs that included safe supply to opioids, stimulants, cannabis, alcohol, nicotine and tobacco.
“This does signal the federal government is no longer supporting these programs, or that there has been insufficient evidence to show them the benefit,” said Opposition BC Conservative critic Elenore Sturko.
“We’re still in a public health emergency. We still have five people losing their lives a day to overdoses. If you are in the midst of an emergency as we are, and had true evidence a program was working and benefiting a reduction of those deaths, you wouldn’t stop funding [it].”
“This does signal the federal government … [has] insufficient evidence to show them the benefit.”
Elenore Sturko
Ottawa created the program in 2017 to “leverage the expertise of people with lived and living experience with substance use, and/or are able to reach priority populations in Canada, such as low-income and low-education populations.”
Health Canada told CBC News in a statement this week that “there are currently no plans to resume previous projects or fund new [prescribed alternatives] projects.”
Despite drug diversion, province keep backing safe supply
Safe supply programs, more recently dubbed “prescribed alternatives,” offer medical-grade substitutes to illegal street drugs as a means of combatting the ongoing toxic drug addiction crisis. Safe supply gives people who are suffering addictions a regulated alternative to the street drug supply, which is contaminated with toxic amounts of fentanyl and other illicit substances.
It has proven a controversial program, as many people traded or sold their government safe supply pills to obtain more potent street drugs, namely fentanyl. That created a new stream of addictive government pills on the street, which a leaked government report revealed is being diverted to organized crime and trafficked provincially, nationally and internationally.
The issue of safe supply diversion, and a lack of government oversight, became a political lightning rod in the most recent B.C. and federal elections, with both the provincial and federal Conservative parties promising to scrap the program.
“There are currently no plans to resume previous projects or fund new [prescribed alternatives] projects.”
Health Canada
Until this week, the federal government had maintained support for the program. Prime Minister Mark Carney, who won re-election in April, has not explicitly stated his goal for the future of safe supply, which is only possible with federal exemptions to the provinces.
The sudden decision by the Carney government to let some safe supply funding lapse appeared to catch organizations and the province off-guard. However, for the next while, it seems the province will cover the shortfall.
“The Ministry of Health provided funding to all five programs for one year, taking them to March 2026,” said the B.C. Ministry of Health in a statement.
“At this time, these programs remain operational with contingency measures in place. The Ministry of Health continues to work closely with health system partners to ensure that these services are sustainable and continue to support the people that need them.”
“At this time, these programs remain operational with contingency measures in place.”
BC Ministry of Health
B.C. identified at least five programs it has backstopped with provincial cash, including in Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo, and the North Island. No amount was provided, but Health Canada figures show $7.6 million in federal funding from 2024/25 to B.C. organizations now identified by the province as affected.
There remain other substance use clinics run directly by provincial health authorities, whose operations are not affected by the federal funding change.
BC Health doesn’t track ‘unwitnessed’ consumption
Sturko said the federal decision likely uses data on effectiveness that the public has not seen.
“The government must have at its fingertips all kinds of data about the program but they haven’t released it,” she said.
Premier David Eby rolled back the safe supply program earlier this year promising to end the practice of “unwitnessed” safe supply. Unwitnessed consumption allows safe supply patients to pick up several days’ prescription and consume the drugs without supervision of a doctor or pharmacist – whereupon, many of the pills were diverted onto the street and into the hands of organized crime. According to government’s own estimate in late 2024, as many as 20 million safe supply pills and patches had been trafficked into the illicit drug market.
“We have millions of dollars going into a program government has shown no accountability on.”
Elenore Sturko
As of February, B.C. mandated new patients must be dispensed “witnessed” safe supply in front of a pharmacist or healthcare provider and cannot take any away. However, the province is slowly phasing that in, and there are exemptions in certain cases. As well, Sturko said she has already heard of problems in the witnessing system.
The B.C. government is also working on a tracking system to try and determine how many people are using witnessed or unwitnessed safe supply, admitting earlier this year it does not even know how its prescription alternatives are being consumed.
Sturko said the province should not be backfilling Ottawa’s funding on safe supply, and should instead be holding a public inquiry into how the safe supply program was abused by criminals, with the goal of holding the government to account for its failures.
“We have millions of dollars going into a program government has shown no accountability on, that we know has criminal activity as part of,” she said.
“There’s insufficient evidence to call these evidence-based programs.”