BC Drug Decriminalization and ‘Safer Supply’ Resulted in Increased Overdoses: Study

A person receives a tested supply of cocaine in Vancouver on Feb. 9, 2022. The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck

The number of British Columbians hospitalized due to opioid overdoses increased after B.C. launched its drug decriminalization and “safer supply” policy, a new study shows.

B.C. received Health Canada’s permission to allow possession of small amounts of illicit drugs in a three-year pilot project, which started in January 2023.

However, the province asked Health Canada to reverse the decision in April 2024 after facing backlash and winding up instead introducing policies to prevent drug use in public spaces like parks, playgrounds, and hospitals.

The study published on the JAMA Health Forum looked at the number of opioid deaths and hospitalizations during the trial period in B.C.

The American Medical Association journal said it found a 33 percent increase in opioid overdose hospitalizations linked to the “safer supply” program.

Researchers said drug decriminalization was linked to a further 25 percent increase, leading to a 58 percent rise in hospitalizations.

“This study provides the first evidence, to our knowledge, on the association of British Columbia’s decriminalization of drug possession that followed the safer supply policy with overdose outcomes,” the study said.

The study authors found “no significant change in opioid-related death rates and said there was “insufficient evidence” to link government policy with opioid deaths.

They said the increase in hospitalizations without a corresponding increase in opioid deaths could be attributed to a greater willingness to get medical help as the government policies reduced stigma associated with drug use. However, they also noted that reduced stigma and lack of criminal penalties may have led to higher hospitalizations as safer supply opioids were diverted to the illegal market.

B.C. Conservatives, who have been critical of the federal and provincial governments’ drug policies, repeated their call for a public inquiry into the “safer supply” policy.

“Evidence now shows that ’safe supply‘ alone was associated with a 33% increase in opioid hospitalizations in BC, while the addition of decriminalization was associated with a further spike for an overall increase of 58%, compared with before the ’safe supply’ program was introduced in 2020,” Conservative MLA Elenore Sturko, her party’s critic for public safety, said on social media.

The federal government currently says that “safer supply” can help prevent overdoses.

“Safer supply services provide an alternative to the toxic illegal drug supply as a way to help prevent overdoses and can connect people to other health and social services,” Health Canada says.

The government of B.C. noted in February 2024 that a report by provincial health officer (PHO) Dr. Bonnie Henry recommended that the prescribed safer supply policy continue.

Opioids have taken more than 16,000 lives in B.C. since being declared a public health emergency in 2016.

A March 14 coroner’s report found 152 people died of overdoses in January 2025. Although half the deaths were between the ages of 40 and 59, three deaths were reported among children and youth under 18.

Nearly five people a day died from unregulated drug toxicity in January, according to a government news release.

BC had 2,253 drug deaths in 2024, its lowest number since 2020, when 1,776 died, and a 13 percent decrease from 2023, when 2,511 died.

‘Safer Supply’ Drugs Trafficked

In February the Conservative Party of B.C. called for a public inquiry after a leaked provincial health ministry document brought to light the trafficking of government “safer supply” drugs.

The document released publicly by the B.C. Conservatives was a presentation developed by the health ministry for law enforcement. It noted that of the 22,418,000 doses of opioid prescribed through the province’s “safer supply” program between 2022 and 2024, “a significant portion” were not “consumed by their intended recipients.”

B.C. Health Minister Josie Osborne confirmed to reporters the document was valid and called its disclosure “disappointing” because it could compromise the ongoing investigation.

“We know that this is happening,” she said, which is why NDP government is “taking the actions that we are.”

The federal Conservatives noted the problem extends beyond B.C.

“In Ontario, the Waterloo Regional Police Service and Niagara Regional Police Service revealed that since 2019, hydromorphone seizures have exploded by 1,090 percent and 1,577 percent, respectively,” the Conservatives said in a Feb. 6 news release.

Police in London, Ontario, have also raised concerns about the trafficking of “safer supply” drugs.

Jennifer Cowan contributed to this article.