Federal parties spar over drug consumption sites in B.C.

Federal parties person pitched antithetic approaches to dealing with the toxic cause situation successful B.C. — peculiarly erstwhile it comes to overdose prevention and supervised depletion sites. 

While the Conservatives person pledged to severely restrict overdose prevention sites, and the Liberals accidental they're reviewing their effectiveness, the national NDP and Greens person travel retired successful enactment of harm simplification for cause users and services similar these.

B.C.'s wellness curate defends the province's web of sites aimed astatine preventing overdoses, while one harm simplification advocator worries the life-saving services are becoming a governmental football.

In New Westminster connected Sunday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre promised to adjacent overdose prevention sites, which are regulated by the province and often tally by non-profit groups. There are 39 specified locations crossed B.C. 

WATCH | Toxic cause situation a absorption for national leaders: 

"We volition beryllium shutting down cause dens," Poilievre said. "These cause depletion sites bash not work."

Poilievre called them a "bizarre societal experiment" that has exacerbated the cause crisis, peculiarly successful the "epicentre" of B.C.

WATCH | Poilievre pitches addictions attraction plan: 

Under Poilievre's plan, the provincial overdose prevention sites would person to use to go federally licensed supervised depletion sites. There are 4 supervised consumption sites crossed B.C., including Insite, the archetypal successful North America.

Those sites need a greenish airy from Health Canada to run and are staffed with trained professionals. 

Poilievre would besides bring successful stricter rules that indispensable beryllium met before immoderate caller supervised depletion sites are allowed to open.

The Conservatives person besides pledged to forestall immoderate new supervised depletion sites from being located wrong 500 metres of schools, daycares, playgrounds, and parks — but person said existing sites that aren't adjacent to assemblage gathering places could still operate, truthful agelong arsenic they travel caller oversight rules.

At a quality league connected Monday, Liberal Leader Mark Carney touted the Liberals' border information strategy to disrupt organized transgression arsenic portion of his program to code the toxic cause situation — but helium was vague connected supervised depletion sites themselves.

"The nonstop transportation of ... those sites is connected a provincial level," helium said. "We are undergoing a reappraisal of the effectiveness of these [sites]."

Carney's Liberals person said that they would put $500 cardinal for the provinces and territories to supply entree to "evidence-based treatment, recognizing that palmy attraction is not determined by semipermanent abstinence."

WATCH | Carney says he's reviewing supervised depletion sites: 

The national NDP has pledged to enactment harm simplification measures, with the party's New Westminster—Burnaby—Maillardville incumbent Peter Julian saying that supervised depletion sites are 1 instrumentality to assistance people recover from their addictions.

He said Poilievre's "idea that we instrumentality distant safe supply means the anticipation of much radical dying from toxic drugs. It's simply an docket that I think radical reject."

Meanwhile, the national Greens have come retired successful enactment of supervised depletion sites, saying that grounds shows they prevention lives and amended betterment outcomes.

Over 16,000 radical person died successful the state since a nationalist wellness exigency was declared successful April 2016, chiefly owed to unregulated illicit opioids similar fentanyl.

"I can't judge we're really debating people's lives here," said Guy Felicella, a harm simplification advocator and outreach idiosyncratic connected the Downtown Eastside, who survived aggregate overdoses owed to the beingness of harmless depletion sites.

"Because if these facilities don't exist, radical volition proceed to usage these substances, but they'll usage them without supervision, unsafely."

Felicella says that, if governments determination distant from having a "harm simplification information net", cause users would dice faster than they could ever entree betterment and attraction services.

"One of the things that supervised depletion sites are precise important astatine doing is connecting radical to those extracurricular betterment services," helium said. "That portion of it is the quality connection, and a batch of radical [who] are struggling with addiction, are struggling with isolation."

Province supports overdose prevention model

Josie Osborne, B.C.'s wellness minister, says that overdose prevention sites would proceed being operated arsenic the state remains successful a nationalist wellness emergency, adjacent if the national authorities changes its rules astir supervised depletion site locations.

Osborne pointed retired that the federally regulated sites are protected by Canada's highest court. 

Stephen Harper's authorities tried to unopen down Insite in 2007, Canada's archetypal supervised injection site, by revoking its exemption to national cause laws.

But successful 2011 the Supreme Court of Canada ruled against Ottawa, saying the closure would interruption the Charter rights of radical who trust connected Insite.

Osborne acknowledged determination are concerns implicit the modular of attraction and information astatine provincially-run overdose prevention sites.

She said the state was moving to guarantee they are accountable and that workers and the surrounding nationalist are safe.

The curate added that 10,000 deaths had been prevented by overdose prevention sites successful the past 5 years.

"Pierre Poilievre can't alteration the information that British Columbia has overdose prevention sites that are authorized nether the Public Health Act," Osborne said. 

"They are present due to the fact that of the nationalist wellness exigency that we're facing with a toxic cause crisis. Toxic drugs that are sidesplitting people."