Some “safer supply” program participants in London are using the drugs as “currency” to trade with criminals to obtain more dangerous drugs such as fentanyl, the Ontario city’s police chief told a House of Commons committee
“If they are engaged in the program and receive a supply of Dilaudid, that now acts as currency that they never had previously. And because they’re prescribed a quantity of hydromorphone, they now are able to obtain fentanyl,” London Police Chief Thai Truong said in
testimony before the House
Committee on Health on Nov. 26.
“So what they will do is trade—sell that medication to obtain fentanyl. That is one example of what is occurring.”
Truong said that while not every participant in the city’s safe supply program is involved in this drug “diversion,” some who are “unhoused,” have little money, and are addicted to fentanyl end up trading the drugs given to them for fentanyl.
Safer supply services involve providing prescribed medications such as opioids and stimulants to people struggling with addiction, with the aim of preventing overdoses. An example is hydromorphone, an
opioid sold under the brand name Dilaudid, which is used to treat moderate to severe pain but can be
addictive and can also lead to fatal overdose.
Proponents of safer supply say the prescribed pills are safer than street pills that can often contain deadlier drugs like
fentanyl and other unknown chemicals.
The B.C. RCMP issued a
statement in March saying the force conducts thousands of drug trafficking investigations a year that lead to seizure of drugs, including prescription drugs like narcotics and opioids. “However, the presence of confirmed safer supply prescriptions are in the minority of drug seizures,” the statement said.
“There is currently no evidence to support a widespread diversion of safer supply drugs in the illicit market in BC or Canada,” it added.
Meanwhile, Truong told the committee that the London police have been seeing the diversion of safe supply drugs in the city. “That’s why it’s very important that we work together in the community with our partners and ensure that regulations are in place and that we do our part with enforcement.”
In a Nov. 15
press release, the London Police Service said the force’s Guns and Gangs Section executed search warrants at a number of locations on Nov. 7 and seized items that included firearms, ammunition, cash, and drugs such as suspected cocaine, fentanyl, and crystal methamphetamine. Among the items were drugs provided through the safer supply program including oxycodone and hydromorphone tablets.
The program began receiving funding from the federal
Substance Use and Addictions Program in April 2020. It expanded operations and went on to more than double its client roster by September 2021, increasing from 112 to 248. A 2023
report published by the organization behind the program, London Intercommunity Health Centre, said the program had 239 clients as of March 2023.
Enforcement
When asked by Conservative MP Laila Goodridge, the party’s shadow minister for addictions, if he was aware of London women being pressured into obtaining safe supply drugs and then being trafficked for those drugs, Truong said his police force has seen this.
“This is a complex issue,” he said in response to Goodridge’s question of whether he is concerned that vulnerable people are being made more vulnerable as a result. “This is one area where we see the exploitation of members in our community,” he said.
Truong also said these safer supply drugs are being distributed and sold in remote communities in northern Ontario.
He said that in the last few years, the charge of possession of controlled substance in London has “whittled down to nearly a fraction of what previous years have seen,” and is now bordering on “de facto decriminalization.”
“Our officers have dramatically reduced their enforcement efforts with possession because we understand that it is a health problem,” he said.
