IN DEPTH: Are Canadian Teens Getting Hooked on ‘Safer Supply’ Drugs?

The analysis delves into whether ’safer supply' drugs have been diverted to youth instead of drug addicts to whom they are prescribed.

Needles are seen on the ground in Oppenheimer park in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside in a file photo. The Canadian Press/Jonathan Hayward

Addictions experts and authorities agree that some of the government-provided “safer supply“ opioids are being diverted—that is, sold or given away to others rather than taken by the drug addicts to whom they are prescribed ”as a safer alternative to the toxic illegal drug supply.”

There’s disagreement, however, on how much is being diverted and whether it has become a gateway drug for youth to fall into opioid addiction. This contentious point is a wedge in Canada’s political and social divide on the “safer supply” approach to the overdose crisis.