Poilievre defends critics of safe supply, says programs ‘perpetuate’ addiction – National

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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre defends his criticism of programs that provide what experts call a safer drug supply to addicted Canadians as a tool to combat the opioid crisis, saying he believes such programs perpetuate people’s addictions indefinitely .

In a radio interview with host Alex Pierson on AM640 Toronto that aired Tuesday, Poilievre said his recent critique of safe supply programs was widely misrepresented by critics.

AM640 is a radio station owned by Corus Entertainment, the parent company of Global News.

He then reiterated some of the same concerns about safe supply that frontline harm reduction experts say demonstrate a poor understanding of the issue.

Read more: Does safe supply for opioid use work? Here’s what the experts say, the data

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Poilievre said Tuesday that he supports the provision of drugs that help reverse drug overdoses and drugs that reduce the pain and suffering of withdrawal for people with addictions.

But he says his support does not extend to the 17 federally-funded pilot projects in pockets across the country that provide patients with prescriptions for pharmaceutical-grade opioids, proposed to reduce addiction to illicit drugs that, according to health officials, are increasingly contaminated with dangerously potent levels. of fentanyl.

What I don’t support is simply perpetuating their addiction indefinitely, as the current approach does, Poilievre told Pierson.

We have these so-called safe supply programs, but the problem with how they work is that they don’t lead people to a drug-free life. They maintain them in the current state of dependence.

The Tory leader said the most important thing is to keep the addict alive by avoiding death from overdose or contamination, but the long-term solution must be to get him into recovery and treatment and help him get rid of drugs completely.

Read more: Amid grim projections of opioid deaths, Ottawa faces calls for faster action on safe supply

Experts who have worked on the front lines of the opioid crisis, among many others, have expressed concern about Poilievres’ comments regarding harm reduction measures such as safe consumption sites and programs that provide safer supplies. in opiates.

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In a video titled Everything Feels Shattered, which was shared in November on the Tory Leaders’ Twitter account, Poilievre pointed to a tent city on the outskirts of Vancouver, saying rising addictions and drug use drugs in communities across Canada is the result of a failed experiment.

This is a deliberate policy by woke Liberal and New Democrat governments to provide taxpayer-funded drugs, flooding our streets with easy access to these poisons, Poilievre says in the video.

Everything feels broken.

But we can fix it. pic.twitter.com/4WarLBsBUU

— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) November 20, 2022

But some experts strongly dispute Poilievres’ comments.

Not only are his portrayals a politicization of the opioid crisis, but they also risk further stigmatizing vulnerable Canadians who already live on the extreme margins of society with little social support, said Cheyenne Johnson, executive director of the BC Center on Substance. Worn. Global News earlier this month.

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The politicization of these issues to get votes is a bit daunting when there have really been clear calls from expert panels that really show an evidence-based approach to improving the lives of people who use drugs in Canada , Johnson said.

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It is disheartening to see that these reports and recommendations are really ignored or not used.

For example, a review of 10 federally-funded safer supply pilot projects in three provinces, commissioned by Health Canada and published earlier this year, found that participants reported improvements in their lives and well-being. to be.

Another independent study published in September in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) looked at people who used a safer supply program in London, Ontario, for three years and found that participation in the program reduced emergency department visits and hospitalizations for people. at high risk of overdose.

Read more: Safer Opioid Supply Program Leads to Lower Ontario Hospitalizations, ER Visits and Study Findings

It also found that there were no opioid-related deaths among those on the program.

As Poilievres say on Tuesday that safer supply programs don’t lead people to an eventual drug-free life, most centers that offer these programs also offer additional supplemental supports, depending on people’s needs, Rob Boyd, CEO of Ottawa Inner City Health, told Global News earlier this month.

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Her organization runs a safer procurement program and other harm reduction initiatives in Canada’s capital.

You really need some sort of holistic approach because you can’t just take a piece of someone’s life and change it. You can’t just take their substance use and change it without changing other things because it’s there for a reason: It actually provides them with coping ability in a very untenable situation, Boyd explained.

Part of what we want to do when working with marginalized populations and people who face many barriers is to create those conditions where good things start to happen to them.

2:39Key recommendation for a safe drug supply to reduce toxic illicit drug-related deaths

When people with addictions begin to see positive developments in their lives, their relationship to substances can begin to change, which is why programs like Safer Supply are usually the start of a continuum of treatment, he said. declared.

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Most of the pilot programs that are happening across Canada have blanket supports for (them) so again you start working on other issues that can kind of build the person’s capacity and motivation to change.

Virtually any frontline worker who supports addiction programs would agree with Poilievre that drug and rehabilitation treatment programs are also important, Boyd said.

But some of them need to offer low-barrier access to give people with difficult addictions that cause significant pain and suffering during withdrawal a chance at success, Boyd said.

Read more: Safe drinking at the forefront of tackling overdose crisis, says Prime Minister

He has to be tolerant of the fact that even if you put people on treatment they will continue to use drugs from the illicit supply and people are not punished for that, so people can be upfront and honest about their use, he said.

We also need to look at other types of treatment for opioid use disorder, because we really haven’t changed the treatments available to people that much.

Meanwhile, data released last week by the federal government shows that if the opioid crisis continues to cause an alarming number of deaths, the outlook could begin to improve, in part thanks to health interventions that include a safe supply. , in addition to other preventive measures and treatment measures.

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Previous modeling released in June projected that Canada could see between 1,400 and 2,400 opioid-related deaths each quarter, according to national surveillance data.

But recently updated projections from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) suggest the death toll could instead range from 1,300 to 2,050, each quarter through June 2023.

Read more: More and more doctors are prescribing opioids to prevent their patients from dying of overdoses

Variations in these projections depend on five different scenarios with varying outcomes, depending on whether health interventions could prevent the same proportion of deaths or more and whether the level of fentanyl in the drug supply remains the same or worsens.

The model results suggest that under some scenarios, the number of opioid-related deaths through June 2023 could remain high, or could also decline, but not to the levels seen before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, says the report. PHAC on its website.

A total of 32,632 Canadians died from opioids between 2016 and June of this year, according to the latest federal data.

The majority of deaths (90%) have occurred in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario, but high rates have also been seen in other regions, the data shows.

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