Candidates in northern B.C. divided over safe supply to ease overdose crisis
Northern Health has highest rate of overdose deaths in the province
Prince George resident Gordon Pegans knows he's risking an overdose every time he smokes crystal methamphetamine.
But he says living without drugs is even scarier than risking his life with drug toxicity.
"It's pretty, pretty powerful, pretty good," Pegans said as he inhaled the drug with a glass pipe near a construction site in downtown Prince George. "It [methamphetamine] is probably the second choice, first choice of people out here doing drugs."
So far this year there have been 29 drug overdose deaths in Prince George.
In the entire Northern Health region, there have been 80 deaths, which translates to the highest per capita rate of overdose deaths in the province, according to the latest report from the BC Coroners Service.
The sobering numbers have candidates grappling with how to ease the acute drug overdose crisis in the region.
B.C. Liberal Mike Morris is running for his third term as MLA for the Prince George-Mackenzie riding. As a former RCMP officer, he says his party will crack down on drug dealers.
Morris says the B.C. Liberals will also restrict safe supply, referring to subsidized prescription drugs that do not carry the toxicity risk of street drugs. He says he has seen some drug users trading safe supply drugs for street drugs.
"What we're seeing on the streets now is the users that are taking advantage of that process," he said. "That's a real problem."
Prince George mother Nicole Lindsay lost her son Noah to fentanyl when he was 21. She believes a safe supply of drugs could have saved him.
"People shouldn't have to die because they used drugs," Lindsay said.
In contrast with the B.C. Liberals, both the NDP and B.C. Greens want to expand safe supply and decriminalize possession of small amounts of illicit drugs.
"We have to stop prosecuting the users that they're addicted with these drugs. We have to be helping them transition back into healthy, supportive lives," said Joan Atkinson, NDP candidate for the Prince George-Mackenzie riding.
"We do need to have safe supply and we need to expand it faster," said Selina Robinson, NDP's candidate for the Coquitlam-Maillardville riding of the Lower Mainland.
Before the provincial legislative assembly was dissolved last month, the NDP government appointed a minister with a portfolio focusing on addictions, and added hundreds of treatment beds for people with drug poisoning issues.
"We can't have people dying because of the poisoned drug supply while we address trauma, while we address addiction, while we address housing and all of that that comes with it," said Robinson.
B.C. Green Leader Sonia Furstenau says her party has been working with the NDP to respond to the drug overdose crisis, and she aims for something more than safe supply.
"We have to move forward with decriminalization [of possessing small amounts of illicit drugs for personal use]," she said.
Furstenau says urgent actions need to be taken on the overdose crisis.
Tap the link below to listen to the debate among Prince George-Mackenzie riding's candidates:
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With files from Betsy Trumpener and Daybreak North
