Cory Morgan: ‘Safer Supply’ Drug Policy Is Now Shown Beyond a Doubt to Be a Failure

A man with a sign on his hoodie takes part in a pro-safer supply demonstration in Vancouver on Nov. 3, 2023. The Canadian Press/Ethan Cairns

Commentary

Good intentions don’t change the outcome of bad policies.

Self-styled addiction experts surely had the best interests of addicts in mind as they promoted policies of permissive enablement to deal with the opioid addiction crisis. Unfortunately, supervised consumption sites often create crime-ridden districts, decriminalization of hard drugs increases the proliferation of hard drug use, and handing out “safer supplies” of drugs has created new addicts as the drugs are diverted and being resold by organized criminals.

While policies of law enforcement on hard drug use have a limited impact on addiction and overdose rates, at least they weren’t making things worse. The same can’t be said for policies of enablement. Proponents of enablement have become almost religious-like as they refuse to acknowledge the failures of enablement policies and insist on continuing with them. Despite years of enablement policies, disorder on the streets has been increasing while deaths due to overdoses continue to rise.

If hard evidence of the harms being caused won’t stop the enablement movement, perhaps direct consequences to the enablers will.

In B.C., a lawsuit has been filed by the families of two young girls who became addicted to opioids. One of the girls died of an overdose at the age of 14, and the other is currently in treatment fighting the addiction. It is alleged that both girls became addicted after being exposed to diverted, government-distributed “safer supplies” of hydromorphone. Hydromorphone is a highly addictive and potent drug prescribed to addicts ostensibly to reduce the harm caused through the consumption of street drugs.

A naive misunderstanding of the nature of addiction and the compulsions addicts suffer from has led to the safe-supply policy failure. When a person is addicted to a substance, it isn’t a static condition. The longer they are addicted, the more tolerant their body becomes to the drug they take, thus they are forced to either consume increasing amounts of the drug or they need a more powerful version of it.

Hydromorphone won’t satisfy a late-stage fentanyl addict, but the addict can trade their prescribed hydromorphone pills to a street dealer for more powerful drugs. The dealer then sells the pills to new markets where young addicts are initially satisfied with the dose. It’s an ugly cycle and it’s pouring more drugs onto the streets and into the hands of youth than ever.

Police across the country have been seizing supplies of diverted drugs that originated from safe-supply prescriptions and have been vocal in their frustration with the policy.

The volumes of the diverted drugs seized make it difficult to believe the prescribers aren’t aware of the diversions. In Campbell River, B.C., recently, RCMP seized 3,500 hydromorphone pills in one raid. In Prince George, a dealer of diverted drugs was so bold that he was arrested selling to addicts right outside a pharmacy. Outgoing Prince George RCMP superintendent Shaun Wright has labelled the decriminalization of hard drugs in British Columbia as “the most horrific failure of public policy“ in the past 30 years.

In London, Ont., local Police Chief Thai Truong said, “Diverted safe supply is being resold into our community. It’s being trafficked into other communities, and it is being used as currency in exchange for fentanyl, fueling the drug trade.”

Not only does the ready supply and low cost of diverted drug supplies contribute toward creating new addicts, but the labelling of the drugs as being “safer” eases misgivings among some trying the drugs for the first time. They may believe the drugs are less potent or less addictive due to having come from a pharmacy and been referred to as a safe, without realizing just how dangerous the drugs are.

Tobacco companies were taken to task worldwide for implying that “light” versions of their products were safer than others. Many companies have been sued to recover health costs and are banned from advertising light versions of their products. There is no safe supply of cigarettes, yet the addiction enablement movement is trying to convince us there can be a safe supply of opioids for addicts.

If the lawsuit launched by the parents of Amelie North and Greg Sword against the federal and B.C. governments wins, or at least begins to gain traction, we can expect families of addicts suffering due to diverted supplies to follow suit and a larger class-action suit may be pending. If governments, and perhaps even some of the addiction enablement activists, suddenly find themselves being held liable for damages caused by their policies, a dose of reality may finally sink in.

We don’t have a magic bullet solution for the opioid addiction crisis. We do know, however, that enablement doesn’t work, and let’s hope the courts put an end to the practice so we can focus on finding a real cure for this horrific epidemic.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.