BC can reduce toxic drug deaths by taking politics out of the issue

Kennedy Stewart was mayor of Vancouver from 2018 to 2022 and before that an NDP MP from 2011 to 2018. He is currently an Associate Professor at the School of Public Policy at Simon Fraser University.

Over the past decade, British Columbia governments have seen thousands of people die from toxic drugs under their watch. Judging by the promises made during this election campaign, the carnage is likely to get worse. British Columbia's NDP Prime Minister David Eby has already scaled back his government's drug decriminalization pilot program. John Rustad, leader of the Conservative Party, promises to end decriminalization and safer supply programs and close all supervised consumption sites.

We need to take the politics out of this issue if we want to make progress, and we can do that by… Public inquiry led by a chief commissioner, unanimously endorsed by all political parties, with a broad mandate to develop a plan to reduce the mortality rate by half within two years.

British Columbia's toxic drug death disaster began under Christy Clark's Liberal government in British Columbia, which included the Conservative leader John Rustad was one of the most important ministers. Things continued under NDP Prime Minister John Horgan and David Eby. The scale and gravity of the tragedy is truly breathtaking. The coroner's office estimates that over 225,000 British Columbians use unregulated drugs (approximately the same number of people as in Burnaby, BC), with over 16,000 people (the population of Nelson, BC) now having died from drug poisoning. Emergency services respond to more than 100 overdose-related calls every day, saving many more lives from friends, family and peers without the help of professionals.

The number of all these overdoses and deaths is devastating. People spend their final hours in agony. Overdose survivors suffer long-term health problems, including brain injuries. Grandparents, parents, siblings, spouses, children, friends and neighbors must cope with death and destruction. First responders and the medical community are burned out. The economic impact of this crisis is also great. An article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal estimated that drug poisonings cost taxpayers in British Columbia $109 million in direct health care costs and $704 million in indirect costs in 2016 alone. These costs can only be higher now that the crisis has deepened.

British Columbia has sought to respond, starting with the declaration of a state of emergency by the Liberal government of British Columbia in 2016. Seventeen newly established youth outreach centers served approximately 16,000 young people, while 1,447 youth received support from integrated children and youth teams in 20 school districts.

The province has provided more than 2,500 drug addiction treatment sites and drug control services are available at 120 locations. An additional 48 supervised consumption points We record around 77,000 visits every month. Nearly 2.5 million naloxone kits have been distributed and approximately 25,000 people receive treatments each month to reduce opioid cravings. Last year, about 4,000 people were prescribed alternatives, such as sustained-release fentanyl patches.

I was very proud to have led the initiative as Mayor of Vancouver to decriminalize small amounts of illegal drugs and to find new ways to save lives after a member of my family died as a result of ingesting a poisoned substance. There is clear evidence that decriminalization has improved the lives of drug users and their families. For example, Health Canada reports a 76 percent decrease in property crimes, a 95 percent decrease in drug seizures, and a significant increase in the number of drug users attending overdose prevention and drug testing facilities. But we will never know how effective the policy may have been.

Shameful campaigns of the worst kind, launched for political gain, have intimidated the Eby government into severely restricting decriminalization, despite the support of experts such as Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer and Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, was formulated and supported. The backsliding on decriminalization shows that evidence-based decision-making on this critical issue has been overwhelmed by scaremongering. Political promises from both the incumbent New Democrats and the Conservatives Imprisoning hundreds of people and inserting drugs into their bodies against their will shows once again how the best medical and public safety advice has fallen victim to hysteria.

Since the opportunity for rational discussion about how to save people from toxic drugs has disappeared, whoever forms government in October must bring that discussion to a safe place. Fortunately, BC has a long history in this area. We have conducted dozens of high-impact assignments and investigations on critical issues in the past. We made decisions based on the Recall and Initiative Act and even appointed North America's first citizens' assembly to study election reform.

We must draw on these unique practices of the past to address the problem of toxic drug deaths. I therefore propose to launch an independent public inquiry. The investigation would be very similar to the Foreign Interference Commission currently underway in Ottawa led by Quebec Court of Appeal Judge Marie-Josée Hogue, whose appointment was approved by a unanimous vote in the House of Commons. This is in stark contrast to an earlier attempt to investigate foreign interference appeared doomed as Prime Minister Trudeau had appointed former Governor General David Johnston to head the inquiry without formal approval from opposition parties.

Imagine the relief across the province if Mr. Eby or Mr. Rustad were to take their first office after the formation of a new government was to secure a unanimous vote to appoint a chief commissioner with a mandate to come up with a plan to save hundreds of people from terrible deaths each year. This is what we must do now to solve this crisis for which six British Columbians pay with their lives every day.