Conservative MPs on the House of Commons health committee questioned Minister of Health and Addictions Ya'ara Saks on Feb. 1 about her government’s drug policies in light of Canada’s opioid epidemic.
By the end of the year, 2,511 deaths from illicit, toxic drugs had been recorded. The average of almost seven fatalities a day is the highest yearly death rate ever recorded by the agency and up 5 percent from the previous year.
At the Feb. 1 meeting, committee vice chair and Conservative MP Stephen Ellis began the questioning by asking about B.C.’s three-year pilot project that started last year with decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA, heroin, fentanyl, and morphine.
“People are dying every day … Everybody here knows it. Everybody across the country knows it. When will you decide to end this dangerous experiment?” Mr. Ellis said.
The minister replied, “My answer is that we will never stop providing medical health care services and interventions to those who use drugs and substances.”
Conservative MP Laila Goodridge took up questioning, saying to Ms. Saks, “On Sept. 26, in Question Period, you said decriminalization was the first step.”
Ms. Goodridge then asked, “What’s the second step?”
“Harm reduction,” answered Ms. Saks. “There is prevention, there is harm reduction, treatment, then recovery.”
Decriminalization, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery are steps Ms. Saks’s predecessor, MP Carolyn Bennett, promoted in support of B.C.’s decriminalization project.
In a follow-up, Ms. Goodridge asked, “Have you had any conversations about legalizing drugs like heroin, cocaine, and meth?”
“The decriminalization program is not about legalizing illicit drugs,” responded Ms. Saks.
“The decriminalization program pilot project that was requested by the B.C. government is about reducing stigma—those who are in personal possession to be able to access medical services and interventions,” she said. “Every loss of life is one too many.”
The document does not specify a need for parental approval or establish a minimum age criterion. It adds that for “participants who are youth age <19 years, two-prescriber approval is strongly recommended.”
