donald macpherson, executive director of the canadian drug policy coalition at simon fraser university, said: “in normal times, this would be significant progress.”
but, he said, the severity of the current long-running crisis means these are not normal times.
people in the provincial government have been working hard to provide a way to access “pharmaceutical alternatives to the totally deadly illegal drug market,” macpherson said. but the problem with the program, he said, is its “highly medical context” means it will be limited to those “who can navigate the health system, who have a doctor, or have a connection with a nurse who can prescribe.”
“many people don’t have those connections, and their use of health services is the emergency ward, primarily,” he said.
while thursday’s changes put b.c. at the forefront of north american jurisdictions on these kinds of interventions, macpherson said, “it’s not good enough for b.c. to say, ‘we’re doing more than anybody else.’ when the results are better than other places, then let’s talk about that. our results are terrible, and we’re really just scratching the surface.”
“this is not an emergency response, it’s an incremental response,” macpherson said. “i’m happy that something is happening, but it’s very sad that we as a society are just at the beginnings of crafting a new system for people to access a safer supply of substances, after so many years of so many deaths.”