This week, Dr. Bonnie Henry, British Columbia’s Provincial Health Officer released a report in which she reviews safe supply policies and recommends better access and less stigmatizing red tape.
In this 96 page, evidence driven report, she focuses on improving benefits and minimizing harm caused by the current prescribed safer supply (PSS) policies.
Since 2016, there has been a public health emergency in place due to the fentanyl driven toxic drug supply that has been killing British Columbians at an unprecedented rate.
Over 13,700 have died since then with a record setting 2,511 dying just last year from toxic drugs.
“Addressing this complex public health emergency requires a suite of interventions along a continuum of care,” Dr. Henry wrote in her report.
This continuum of care in BC includes prevention, early intervention, reducing risk to save lives, connecting people to care when they need it and making recovery easier and more accessible.
She says PSS is a part of this continuum of care and includes prescribing, dispensing and the administration of pharmaceutical-grade alternatives to the poisoned supply which is causing so many deaths.
Current PSS policy is largely in place due to COVID protocols because it became evident early on in the pandemic that drug-users were dying and spreading the disease.
In July 2021, the policies were expanded upon in order to improve access throughout the province in order to separate people from the toxic supply.
During implementation, the new policies were called into question over potential harms they could bring about.
Dr. Henry says the potential benefits of these improved access to PSS policies were the prevention of death, reduced health care costs, improved access and social services engagement.
In light of these issues, Dr. Henry was asked to complete this review.
In her review, she made several recommendations and provided advice on how to implement them.
Dr. Henry says the term “prescribed safer supply” should be retired. She recommends the term “prescribed alternatives” to the toxic supply instead.
This is for several reasons, chief among them is the fact that she says substance use must be understood as a public health issue. Income equality, access to safe and secure housing, decolonization and reconciliation are all factors that contribute to this issue.
She also says a single ministry should take on monitoring and moving this work forward because it is such a large and systemic issue with many overlapping organizations and ministries.
Related:
- ‘A little bit of kindness’: How to save lives on Vancouver Island during the toxic drug crisis
- ‘Driven by unregulated fentanyl’: Toxic drugs claim over 2,500 lives across BC in 2023
There are numerous documents she advised be retired while suggesting replacements or alternatives that will be less problematic for substance users, the rest of the populus as well as the government and adjacent organizations.
She says the Access to Prescribed Safer Supply in British Columbia: Policy Direction document should be heavily amended based on her recommendations to clarify that clarify “that purpose is to provide patients with prescribed alternatives to unregulated substances, and that its purpose is not to increase access to regulated medications for people who are not patients.”
Dr. Henry suggests that the government work more closely with industries who are able to manufacture prescribed alternatives to the toxic drug supply to expand opioid medication options, prioritizing DAM and fentanyl smokables.
She also says that government accountability and transparency needs to be improved surrounding these policies as well as the constant updating of these policies based on ethics and evaluations.
