Why decriminalizing drug possession won't fix Canada's toxic supply & More News Here

This is an excerpt from Second Opinion, CBC Health’s weekly well being and medical science publication. If you have not subscribed but, you are able to do that by clicking right here.

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Canada’s toxic drug supply downside cannot be fastened by decriminalizing the possession of small portions of medication alone — a transfer that advocates say is a step in the suitable route however a far cry from addressing the worsening overdose disaster.

In response to the disaster, the federal authorities introduced a plan this week to permit adults in British Columbia to possess small quantities of some illicit medicine — as much as 2.5 grams of opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine and MDMA inside British Columbia.

But previously decade, the illicit drug supply has gone from unthinkably unhealthy to unimaginably worse as fentanyl has fully overtaken heroin and much more harmful medicine have entered the supply. 

Since 2016, 26,690 Canadians have died from suspected opioid overdoses, and in B.C. alone there have been 2,224 suspected overdose deaths in 2021 and greater than 9,400 since 2016 — the main reason for unnatural deaths within the province.

“No one knows, no one can know, what they’re selling or what they’re putting in their bodies,” Karen Ward, a drug consumer and advocate in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, informed CBC News in a latest interview.

“I don’t even want to think about how much worse it could get.” 

7,000% rise in fentanyl in final decade

The dramatic rise of fentanyl in Canada has been stark. In 2012, solely 217 of the road drug samples seized by regulation enforcement companies throughout Canada examined optimistic for fentanyl. In 2021 that quantity grew to over 16,000 samples — a rise of greater than 7,000 per cent.

Of the greater than 24,000 opioid medicine seized by regulation enforcement companies throughout Canada final yr, 72 per cent contained fentanyl or fentanyl analogues, in addition to 45 per cent of the heroin samples confiscated.

But on the similar time, the precise quantity of heroin in Canada fell by greater than 60 per cent over 5 years as fentanyl took over — resulting in an unpredictable and harmful supply. 

“A lot of people talk about the heroin supply being contaminated with fentanyl, but we haven’t had heroin supply for a long time — the supply is fentanyl,” Nick Boyce, director of the Ontario Harm Reduction Network, mentioned in a latest interview. 

“You don’t know what dosing you’ll get and there’s many different fentanyl analogues out there, some which are more potent than others.”

Carfentanil particularly is among the most harmful opioids within the drug supply: 100 occasions extra toxic than fentanyl, 10,000 occasions extra toxic than morphine and undetectable by sight, odor or style. And after declining in 2019, it is now on the rise in Canada once more. 

The statistics are compiled by Health Canada’s Drug Analysis Service (DAS), which checks roughly 125,000 samples of medication apprehended by the Canada Border Services Agency, the Correctional Service of Canada and police forces throughout the nation annually.

And whereas it merely supplies a snapshot of the disaster, it additionally paints a tragic image, one which concurrently exhibits the disappearance of heroin as fentanyl and different harmful opioids contaminated the supply whereas the variety of overdose deaths skyrocketed. 

“It’s a scary situation — it’s like the well was poisoned,” mentioned Ward. “This whole community is just falling apart because so many people have died.” 

WATCH | Fighting an opioid overdose epidemic throughout a pandemic:

In the primary yr of the pandemic alone, there was a 95 per cent improve in suspected opioid-related deaths, with 7,224 lives misplaced in Canada, in comparison with 3,711 in 2019. 

“This is the worst public health crisis we’ve ever seen with regard to toxic drugs in the history of our country,” mentioned Donald MacPherson, govt director of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, a coverage advocacy group made up of about 50 organizations.

“We have never seen anything like this before.” 

Decriminalization won’t have ‘enormous affect’

But the federal authorities’s decriminalization plan does not come into impact for one more seven months and falls in need of the 4.5 gram threshold that the province and hurt discount advocates referred to as for — an quantity that many critics already believed was too low. 

“If this is intended to make enough of a difference to save lives, why does it not take effect for another seven months?” Ward mentioned in response to the announcement, including that it does little to handle the toxic supply of medication in Canada.

WATCH | Small-scale illicit drug possession decriminalized in B.C.:

MacPherson mentioned that whereas the announcement “signals the direction that we need to go” as a rustic, it ought to have been rolled out at a nationwide degree with the intention to make an actual affect in Canada on condition that the overdose disaster is not only a B.C. downside. 

“This is discriminatory, if you live in another province, you’re not really going to have the benefits of this model. It’s for B.C. residents only, so that’s disappointing,” he mentioned. 

“And it’s really not going to have a huge impact on the toxic drug supply — that is the number one problem.” 

The federal authorities has signalled it’s open to discussing increasing the scope of decriminalization past simply B.C. to different provinces and cities throughout the nation, however Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Nova Scotia already mentioned they won’t be subsequent in line. 

Kayla DeMong, govt director of Prairie Harm Reduction in Saskatoon, mentioned that whereas decriminalization overcomes a century of “highly discriminatory” drug coverage, it falls in need of addressing the overdose disaster in a significant manner. 

“Do I think it’s going to have a huge impact on our toxic drug supply? No,” she informed CBC News. “What I do hope is that it will provide better support and resources and less criminal enforcement for people that use substances.” 

Focus must be on toxic supply: advocates

MacPherson mentioned that whereas some drug customers in B.C. who’re stopped by police with small quantities of medication will profit from the decriminalization transfer, police already do not arrest many individuals for possession in Vancouver and it possible won’t result in main modifications there. 

“It also means we’re going to be spending the next seven months putting together a model of a policy change that really isn’t about the toxic drug supply,” he mentioned. “So the focus of the response is in the wrong place.” 

Advocates have been calling for a secure and controlled drug supply for many years with the intention to allow individuals who use medicine to entry regulated substances, resembling medical-grade heroin, from a authorized supply, quite than doubtlessly toxic variations from the illicit market. 

“There’s so much so much more to do in the area of giving people alternatives to the toxic drug market that is not happening — that’s where the real crisis is,” MacPherson mentioned. 

“That kind of action needs to start happening, and in combination with decriminalization that would make sense. But decriminalization on its own? When over 90 per cent of people who die are dying from drug toxicity? That needs to be dealt with.” 

Ward mentioned till the toxic drug supply challenge is addressed head on in Canada, individuals who use medicine will proceed to die at an unfathomable price.

“The problem is they’re not illegal because they’re dangerous, they’re dangerous because they’re illegal,” Ward mentioned. 

“People are dying. I’m surprised I’m still alive. People are falling apart. We’ve been through so much. They’ve suffered so much, and they’ve been poisoned to death by the policy that we’ve decided not to change.” 

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