Federal parties have pitched different approaches to dealing with the toxic drug crisis in B.C. — particularly when it comes to overdose prevention and supervised consumption sites.
While the Conservatives have pledged to severely restrict overdose prevention sites, and the Liberals say they’re reviewing their effectiveness, the federal NDP and Greens have come out in support of harm reduction for drug users and services like these.
B.C.’s health minister defends the province’s network of sites aimed at preventing overdoses, while one harm reduction advocate worries the life-saving services are becoming a political football.
In New Westminster on Sunday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre promised to close overdose prevention sites, which are regulated by the province and often run by non-profit groups. There are 39 such locations across B.C.
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“We will be shutting down drug dens,” Poilievre said. “These drug consumption sites do not work.”
Poilievre called them a “bizarre social experiment” that has exacerbated the drug crisis, particularly in the “epicentre” of B.C.
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Under Poilievre’s plan, the provincial overdose prevention sites would have to apply to become federally licensed supervised consumption sites. There are four supervised consumption sites across B.C., including Insite, the first in North America.
Those sites need a green light from Health Canada to operate and are staffed with trained professionals.
Poilievre would also bring in stricter rules that must be met before any new supervised consumption sites are allowed to open.
The Conservatives have also pledged to prevent any new supervised consumption sites from being located within 500 metres of schools, daycares, playgrounds, and parks — but have said existing sites that aren’t close to community gathering places could still operate, so long as they follow new oversight rules.
At a news conference on Monday, Liberal Leader Mark Carney touted the Liberals’ border security strategy to disrupt organized crime as part of his plan to address the toxic drug crisis — but he was vague on supervised consumption sites themselves.
“The direct delivery of … those sites is on a provincial level,” he said. “We are undergoing a review of the effectiveness of these [sites].”
Carney’s Liberals have said that they would invest $500 million for the provinces and territories to provide access to “evidence-based treatment, recognizing that successful treatment is not determined by long-term abstinence.”
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The federal NDP has pledged to support harm reduction measures, with the party’s New Westminster—Burnaby—Maillardville incumbent Peter Julian saying that supervised consumption sites are one tool to help people recover from their addictions.
He said Poilievre’s “idea that we take away safe supply means the possibility of more people dying from toxic drugs. It’s simply an agenda that I think people reject.”
Meanwhile, the federal Greens have come out in support of supervised consumption sites, saying that evidence shows they save lives and improve recovery outcomes.
Over 16,000 people have died in the province since a public health emergency was declared in April 2016, primarily due to unregulated illicit opioids like fentanyl.
“I can’t believe we’re actually debating people’s lives here,” said Guy Felicella, a harm reduction advocate and outreach worker on the Downtown Eastside, who survived multiple overdoses due to the existence of safe consumption sites.
“Because if these facilities don’t exist, people will continue to use these substances, but they’ll use them without supervision, unsafely.”
Felicella said that, if governments move away from having a “harm reduction safety net,” drug users would die faster than they could ever access recovery and treatment services.
“One of the things that supervised consumption sites are very important at doing is connecting people to those outside recovery services,” he said. “That part of it is the human connection, and a lot of people [who] are struggling with addiction, are struggling with isolation.”
Josie Osborne, B.C.’s health minister, says that overdose prevention sites would continue being operated as the province remains in a public health emergency, even if the federal government changes its rules around supervised consumption site locations.
Osborne pointed out that the federally regulated sites are protected by Canada’s highest court.
Stephen Harper’s government tried to shut down Insite, Canada’s first supervised injection site, in 2007 by revoking its exemption to federal drug laws.
But in 2011, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled against Ottawa, saying the closure would violate the Charter rights of people who rely on Insite.
Osborne acknowledged there are concerns over the standard of care and safety at provincially-run overdose prevention sites.
She said the province was working to ensure they are accountable and that workers and the surrounding public are safe.
The minister added that 10,000 deaths had been prevented by overdose prevention sites in the last five years.
“Pierre Poilievre can’t change the fact that British Columbia has overdose prevention sites that are authorized under the Public Health Act,” Osborne said.
“They are here because of the public health emergency that we’re facing with a toxic drug crisis. Toxic drugs that are killing people.”
