B.C. ends take-home safer supply for drug users to stop diversion
Health minister says change is designed to reduce criminal diversion of prescribed alternatives
People who rely on prescription opioids such as hydromorphone must now take those safer supply drugs under the supervision of a pharmacist, in a major about-face by the provincial government announced Wednesday by B.C.'s health minister.
"We've heard concerns about these medications being diverted and ending up in the wrong hands," Josie Osborne said.
The change will happen immediately.
It's something B.C. Conservative MLA Elenore Sturko says should have happened a long time ago, as a measure to prevent the diversion of prescription opioids which have ended up in the hands of organized criminals and been used as a form of currency on the street.
"I've been calling for this for years," Sturko told reporters, pointing out she first grilled the government about the problem of drug diversion during question period in February 2023.
Sturko said Osborne's announcement made her emotional "because it made me think of the very first time that a parent had called me and their child had died of a fentanyl overdose, and they found these safe supply, hydromorphone, in their room, and they had started their path to addiction from diverted safe supply."
Last year, the families of two teens sued the provincial government, alleging that government-supplied free hydromorphone pills fuelled their children's addictions and led to the use of hard drugs.
Asked about why the government didn't act sooner, Osborne said it's important to act on evidence and not a "knee-jerk reaction."
This is the second major drug policy that's been walked back by the NDP government following pressure from the Official Opposition. In April, Premier David Eby announced the province would roll back its decriminalization pilot project by recriminalizing drug use in public spaces, including parks, public transit and hospitals.
Osborne said the "significant" change to end the take-home model would be difficult for some but that ensuring the province's safer supply program is not taken advantage of is important.
Earlier this month, the B.C. Conservatives released leaked Ministry of Health slides, which showed government and law enforcement officials were aware that a significant portion of prescription opioids were not going to those who needed them but instead were being trafficked nationally and internationally.
The slides also contained allegations that at least 60 pharmacies are offering incentives to doctors and housing providers to entice clients to get their safer supply drugs from them.
The pharmacies receive money from the government through the Pharmacare program based on the number of prescriptions they fill, which is why some resorted to kickbacks in order to attract clients with safer supply prescriptions.
Osborne also announced Wednesday that the government is actively investigating these 60 pharmacies.
"This is a very small number of bad actor pharmacies," Osborne said.
However, Sturko said "the real bad actors are those that ignored two years of evidence that this (diversion) was causing harm, downplaying it, denying it to the detriment of our province, fuelling addiction, fuelling the fentanyl trade and putting money into the hands of criminals."
B.C.'s prescription opioid program was introduced by provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry in 2020 during the pandemic, as a way to separate people from toxic and deadly street drugs.
Henry was not informed of the policy shift, Osborne said.
In the past, Henry acknowledged that diversion was happening but said it was not enough of a concern to change course on the safe supply program. In fact, she encouraged expanding the program to a non-prescriber model, which would have allowed people to get regulated opioids from compassion clubs or retail stores.
Former B.C. chief coroner Lisa Lapointe said the shift ignores Henry's recommendations.
"Safer supply is evidence-based," Lapointe said. "We know that reducing people's reliance on the illicit black market will save lives ... These are evidenced-based recommendations. It's very concerning when government is making policies that are not based on evidence."
Police chiefs praise decision, Greens call it 'disappointing'
Meanwhile, the B.C. Association of Chiefs of Police welcomed Wednesday's announcement.
The association said in a statement that while harm reduction efforts are important, "it is equally essential that these programs are structured in a way that prevents unintended consequences, including the illegal redistribution of prescribed substances."
Jeremy Valeriote, interim leader of the B.C. Greens and MLA for West Vancouver-Sea to Sky, said he was disappointed by the move to a "witnessed consumption model."
"For people trying to maintain employment, care for their families, or simply live their lives, the requirement to visit a pharmacy multiple times a day is untenable," he said in a statement.
"Instead of maintaining access to life-saving medication, this change risks pushing individuals back to the illicit supply chain, increasing overdose risks, and worsening the crisis the B.C. NDP is trying to address."
With files from Meera Bains and Jon Azpiri