Nailing down policy platforms in the midst of an election is an elusive endeavour as parties develop existing policies and announce new promises (sometimes on the fly) every day. We’ll do our best to post significant changes as new information becomes available.
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BC NDP
Premier David Eby proposed a plan for secured involuntary care for people with concurrent addictions, mental health issues and brain damage, announcing the first two sites will be at Surrey Pretrial Services Centre and Aloette Correctional Centre in Maple Ridge.
Eby announced increased enforcement supports for municipalities to combat public disorder in downtown cores until the above secured care could be established.
In the summer, B.C. began offering Opiate Agonist Therapy via telehealth.
The governing NDP began to rollingl back decriminalization in the spring after previously getting permission from the federal government to decriminalize personal drug possession for a three-year pilot study.
The BC NDP support safe supply, have been slow to admit to the problem of drug diversion. Although, Premier Eby did pivot on this in May saying he’d asked one of his health advisors to explore different measures of tracking diversion of the pills into the black market.
Eby rejected a recommendation by his provincial health minister Dr. Bonnie Henry to expand safe supply. An advocate of legalization, Henry told a parliamentary committee this spring she was in favour of legalizing all drugs.
Eby said his government would not consider legalization.
BC NDP have stated there are more than 3,600 adult and youth addiction treatment beds in the province, but the government’s definition of “addiction treatment’ has been called into question. This figure apparently includes supportive housing beds, short-term detox and stabilization services among others. How many of these beds are residential addictions treatment, such as the 100 or so at Red Fish Healing Centre, is unclear.
Speaking of Red Fish, BC NDP announced $1 billion in funding in February 2023, to cover various harm reduction and addictions services, including concept planning and developing a business case to expand the centre treatment model to several communities across the province. A year-and-a-half later, and no specific announcements have been made, although Eby did acknowledge to local officials in September that secured care facilities (whenever they are built) are expected to relieve public safety pressure off downtown core.
BC Conservatives
BC Conservative Leader John Rustad committed to a “zero-tolerance policy” on illicit drug use in hospitals and public drug use anywhere.
He has promised to end decriminalization completely and said legalization is not an option.
The BC Conservatives promise “compassionate intervention” mandatory treatment for children with severe addictions and secured mandatory care for individuals with severe mental health and addictions who are a danger to themselves or others.
Rustad committed to building up long-term and medium-term care addictions treatment and recovery, and creating stabilization units for people in mental health and addictions distress, to relieve pressure on hospital Emergency Rooms.
BC Conservatives have committed to increase support for enforcement in downtown cores to enhance public safety.
Conservatives initially pledged to close safe injection sites and replace them with addiction intake facilities staffed by medical professionals. On Sept. 26, Conservatives released a policy document promising to shut down crack pipe dispensaries and all consumption sites, which they call “drug dens.”
BC Greens
The BC Greens made perhaps their biggest policy splash of the campaign, with a plan to expand prescribed safer supply of opioids and other drugs as their strategy to deal with the overdose crisis.
They recommend a “non-medicalized” model to make regulated hard drugs available without a prescription, which amounts to legalization of all drugs.
BC Green Leader Sonia Furstenau announced her party’s plan to have drug education and mental health supports in schools to prevent substance use before it begins.
The party has also called for the regulation of treatment and recovery programs, an evidence-based standard of care and a centralized database to track outcomes and availability.
The Greens brought out former chief coroner Lisa Lapointe, who endorsed the BC Greens drug strategy announcement. Lapointe has long pushed for non-prescribed access to regulated drugs and openly supported the illegal drug checking and trafficking operation in the Downtown Eastside by the Drug Users Liberation Front (DULF), which they dubbed their own unsanctioned version of safe supply. DULF founders were arrested last October and their operation was shut down.
After the DULF arrests, BC NDP downplayed its complicity in the group’s drug trafficking activities, cutting off government funding to the group. In November it pivoted its drug strategy away from legalization of all illicit drugs and rejected Lapointe’s call for non-medicalized safer supply. Lapointe retired as chief coroner three months later.
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