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The problem of Canada’s supply of toxic drugs cannot be solved by decriminalizing the possession of only small amounts of drugs, a measure that advocates say is a step in the right direction, but far from addressing the worsening crisis. overdose.
In response to the crisis, the federal government announced a plan this week to allow adults in British Columbia they possess small amounts of some illicit drugs – up to 2.5 grams of opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine and MDMA in British Columbia.
But in the last decade, the supply of illicit drugs has gone from unimaginably bad to unimaginably worse, as fentanyl has completely surpassed heroin and even more dangerous drugs have entered.
Since 2016, 26,690 Canadians have died on suspicion of opioid overdoseand in BC alone there were 2,224 suspected overdose deaths in 2021 and more than 9,400 since 2016, the leading cause of unnatural deaths in the province.
“No one knows, no one knows what they’re selling or putting on their bodies,” Karen Ward, a drug user and advocate for Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, told CBC News in a recent interview.
“I don’t even want to think about how much worse it can be.”
Fentanyl has increased by 7,000% in the last decade
The dramatic rise in fentanyl in Canada has been brutal. In 2012, only 217 of the street drug samples confiscated by law enforcement agencies across Canada tested positive for fentanyl. In 2021, that number grew to more than 16,000 samples, an increase of more than 7,000%.
Of the more than 24,000 opioid drugs confiscated by Canadian law enforcement agencies last year, 72% contained fentanyl or fentanyl analogs, as well as 45% of confiscated heroin samples.
But at the same time, the actual amount of heroin in Canada fell more than 60 percent over five years as fentanyl took over, resulting in an unpredictable and dangerous supply.
“A lot of people say that the supply of heroin is contaminated with fentanyl, but we haven’t had a supply of heroin in a long time; the supply is fentanyl,” said Nick Boyce, director of the Ontario Harm Reduction Network. , in a recent interview. .
Nick Boyce, director of Ontario’s Harm Reduction Network, says heroin supply has been completely outpaced by fentanyl in Canada. (Evan Mitsui / CBC)
“You don’t know what dosage you’re going to get and there are a lot of different fentanyl analogs, some of which are more potent than others.”
In particular, carfentanil is one of the most dangerous opioids in drug supply: 100 times more toxic than fentanyl, 10,000 times more toxic than morphine, and undetectable by sight, smell, or taste. And after declining in 2019, it is now rising again in Canada.
The statistics are compiled by Health Canada’s Drug Analysis Service (DAS)which analyzes approximately 125,000 drug samples detained by the Canada Border Services Agency, the Correctional Service of Canada, and police forces across the country each year.
And while it only provides a snapshot of the crisis, it also paints a tragic picture, which simultaneously shows the disappearance of heroin as fentanyl and other dangerous opioids contaminated the supply as the number of overdose deaths skyrocketed. .
“It’s a scary situation, it’s like the well has been poisoned,” Ward said. “This whole community is sinking because a lot of people have died.”
TARGET | Fighting an epidemic of opioid overdose during a pandemic:
Fight an epidemic of opioid overdose during a pandemic
The opioid crisis was a problem in British Columbia before the COVID-19 pandemic, but combined with an unsafe supply of drugs and fewer safe injection sites, the crisis has become an epidemic of overdose.
In the first year of the pandemic alone, there was a 95% increase in alleged opioid-related deaths, with 7,224 lives lost in Canada, compared to 3,711 in 2019.
“This is the worst public health crisis we’ve ever seen when it comes to toxic drugs in our country’s history,” said Donald MacPherson, executive director of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, a political advocacy group made up of 50 organizations.
“We’ve never seen anything like this before.”
Decriminalization will not have a “big impact”
But the federal government’s decriminalization plan will not go into effect for another seven months and does not reach the 4.5-gram threshold demanded by the province and advocates of harm reduction. an amount that many critics already believed was too low.
“If this is going to make enough of a difference to save lives, why doesn’t it take effect for another seven months?” Ward said in response to the announcement, adding that he recently addressed the toxic supply of drugs to Canada.
TARGET | Illegal possession of small-scale drugs decriminalized in BC:
BC receives exemption to decriminalize small-scale illicit drug possession
The federal government has granted an exemption that will decriminalize the small-scale possession of certain illicit drugs in BC. The exemption will take effect in 2023.
MacPherson said that while the announcement “signs the direction we need to go” as a country, it should have been deployed nationwide to make a real impact in Canada, as the overdose crisis does not it’s just a BC. problem.
“This is discriminatory. If you live in another province, you really won’t get the benefits of this model. It’s only for BC residents, so it’s disappointing,” he said.
“And it really won’t have a big impact on the supply of toxic drugs. That’s the number one problem.”
The federal government has indicated this open to debate on extending the scope of decriminalization beyond only BC in other provinces and cities in the country, however SaskatchewanManitoba and Nova Scotia have already said they will not be next in line.
Kayla DeMong, executive director of Prairie Harm Reduction in Saskatoon, said that while decriminalization spans more than a century of “highly discriminatory” drug policy, it fails to address the overdose crisis in a meaningful way.
“I think it’s going to have a big impact on our supply of toxic drugs? No,” he told CBC News. “What I do hope is that it will provide better support and resources and less criminal enforcement for people who use substances.”
Drug user injects heroin at Moss Park overdose prevention site in downtown Toronto in December 2018. (Evan Mitsui / CBC)
We need to focus on toxic supply: advocates
MacPherson said that while some drug users in BC who are arrested by police with small amounts of drugs will benefit from the decriminalization move, police no longer arrest many people for possession in Vancouver and will likely not make major changes there.
“It also means that we will spend the next seven months developing a policy change model that does not really address the supply of toxic drugs,” he said. “So the focus of the answer is on the wrong place.”
Advocates have been calling for a safe and regulated supply of drugs for decades in order to allow drug users to access regulated substances, such as medical grade heroin, from a legal source, rather than potentially toxic versions of the drug. illicit market.
“There’s a lot more to do in the area of giving people alternatives to the toxic drug market that’s not happening. That’s where the real crisis is,” MacPherson said.
“This kind of action has to start happening, and in combination with decriminalization, that would make sense. But decriminalization alone? When more than 90 percent of people who die are dying from drug toxicity? That needs to be addressed. ”
Karen Ward says the federal government’s decriminalization announcement was recently made to address the toxic supply of drugs in Canada. (Rafferty Baker / CBC)
Ward said that until the issue of toxic drug supply is addressed directly in Canada, drug users will continue to die at an unfathomable rate.
“The problem is, they’re not illegal because they’re dangerous, they’re dangerous because they’re illegal,” Ward said.
“People are dying. I’m surprised he’s still alive. People are falling apart. We’ve been through a lot. They’ve suffered a lot, and they’ve been poisoned to death by the policy we’ve made. He decided not to. to change”.