Addiction is a reflection of physical, psychological, and emotional health. People suffering from pain deserve treatment, dignity, and respect.
The Overdose Crisis is a direct result of the War on Drugs, growing and extreme wealth disparity, the criminalization of poverty, and institutional racism. We will never solve The Overdose Crisis by treating substance use as a crime. Rather, we need to understand the roots of substance use and address those issues specifically. Substance use may be someone’s only tool for surviving the otherwise intolerable; self-medication for trauma, stress, depression, homelessness, anxiety, abuse, childhood trauma from neglect and abuse, acute and chronic pain, PTSD, mental health conditions, or irritating neurodivergent stimulus processing, among many other possibilities. It is beyond cruel to criminalize and prosecute people seeking treatment for pain and suffering.
We can save lives, radically reduce crime, and infinitely improve the quality of life for everyone – not just substance users – with a holistic approach:
Housing for Everyone.
Housing is a basic human right. Everyone in our province deserves and must be provided with a home that meets their individual needs, including accessibility, affordability, safety, special services, and appropriateness for community, family-size, and culture.
Healing of any kind cannot start until a person is safe & secure. If you do not have a home, are precariously housed, or are otherwise at-risk for losing your home, it is more difficult to address any needs beyond day-to-day survival.
Lastly, not only is housing everyone the only moral thing to do, research has shown that it is more cost-effective to house everyone than to manage the crisis of homelessness.
Complete Universal Healthcare
Healthcare is a provincial mandate. Universal healthcare was born in Saskatchewan. We would not have it throughout Canada today if one province hadn’t taken that first, controversial step. It’s well past time for another province to complete that vision.
We need to expand universal healthcare as we know it today to include:
Preventative Services
Universal contraception as advocated by the Access BC organization.
Mental health services
Culturally-appropriate healing services
Pharmacare
Pain control
Visioncare
Dentalcare
Safe Supply
Calling the epidemic of death striking the substance use community an “Overdose Crisis” is in many ways a misnomer. It is more accurately termed a “Poisoned Drug Supply Crisis”. Because many – though not all – of these substances are illegal, it is often necessary for substance users to purchase their supplies on the black market. There is no regulatory control and it is difficult to know exactly what you are purchasing in terms of strength and safety. A lack of safe supply is what is killing people.
I would:
Establish safe consumption sites in every community that needs them. Safe consumption sites allow substance users to access safe supplies and services and ensures that they are not consuming alone. Most people who die from consuming a toxic dose die because there isn’t anyone around to help them.
Safe supply almost entirely eliminates the chance of adverse side effects, including overdose.
A large percentage of people who die from poisoned substances are “hidden users”, people who live a working- or middle- class lifestyle and who are successfully hiding their substance use from family, friends, neighbours, and colleagues.
Due to the stigma of drug use, these hidden users are unlikely to ask for help, and if they die, their families choose not to disclose what caused their death. Allowing these hidden users to privately access a safe supply at their neighbourhood pharmacy would dramatically reduce their chances of consuming a poison dose.
Legalize possession for personal use. We cannot begin to eliminate the stigma associated with substance use if possession remains a crime. If we do not eliminate the stigma, it is impossible to help hidden substance users who risk losing everything if their substance use is exposed.