adam zivo: 'almost as good as giving (drug users) cash' — report slams 'safer supply' of free opioids

last autumn, b.c.’s top doctor, bonnie henry, commissioned a confidential report from american drug policy expert jonathan caulkins examining the “economics” of safer supply diversion. the document, which was completed in march, was apparently so secret that even premier david eby was unaware of it — when news of its existence leaked in april, he told reporters that he was blindsided.

although the media widely commented on caulkins’ report at that time, its exact contents remained a mystery — an object of speculation for addiction experts and west coast politicos. but then, in early july, a copy was quietly uploaded to the provincial government’s website, without fanfare.

though caulkins’ approach was predominantly theoretical, many of his points have already been empirically validated by media reports — including several stories published in the national post .

safer supply programs predominantly distribute eight-milligram tablets of hydromorphone, an opioid as potent was heroin. caulkins argued that drug dealers might crush these tablets and mix them into illicit fentanyl to “extend” their supply and profits. two months after the completion of his report, the post published a story featuring a former teenage gang member describing what appeared to be this practice.

while harm reduction activists often insist that reports of rampant safer supply diversion are “ disinformation ” or “lies,” they have recently pivoted toward claiming that there are simply too few safer supply patients for diversion to meaningfully impact the black market.

critics have argued that this is misleading, as safer supply recipients are given astronomic amounts of opioids compared with pain patients. however, as the b.c. government has not publicly disclosed how much safer supply hydromorphone it actually dispenses, this debate has remained unresolved — until now.

around the same time that henry’s office published caulkins’ work, she released another report calling for the legalization of all drugs through “non-medical safer supply.” (its existence was, of course, highly publicized.) yet even though henry had commissioned caulkins to advise her on safer supply, almost none of his findings made it into her legalization report, although his analysis was included as an appendix. caulkin’s findings were summarized in a whitewashed paragraph in the body of the report that played down or omitted many of the grievous concerns he had flagged: the risks of organized crime, national and international smuggling, increased drug use and an expanded drug market, among other things.