Safer drug supply needed to prevent illicit drug deaths, says new B.C. coroner’s report

“This report includes realistic, actionable recommendations that the panel believes will reduce the number of people dying due to toxic, illicit drugs in our province,” said Michael Egilson, death review panel chair.

“We recognize that many of the timelines in the report are aggressive, but COVID-19 has demonstrated how swiftly policy-makers can act when lives are at stake and we know that every month of inaction equates to hundreds more lives lost.”

The three recommendations from the report say a safer drug supply is needed first, followed by the development of a 30/60/90-day Illicit Drug Toxicity Action Plan that includes monitoring, and the establishment of an “evidence-based continuum of care.”

B.C.’s chief coroner Lisa Lapointe has forwarded each of the recommendations to the relevant ministries and organizations.

“We know that everyone who dies because of drug toxicity leaves behind family, friends and communities who grieve their loss,” Lapointe said in a release. “As we approach the sixth anniversary of the declaration of the public-health emergency into substance-related harms, co-ordinated, urgent action is needed to reduce the devastation illicit drugs have inflicted on so many people in our province. This report, by a panel of subject-matter experts, provides a roadmap. It is my sincere hope that their advice will be actioned.”

In response to the report, Sheila Malcolmson, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, said the province knows it must do more to combat the illicit toxic drug crisis in B.C.

“We are making historic investments into mental-health and substance-use services to build a system of care where there wasn’t one in 2017,” she said in a statement. “This work is critical and is well underway.

“We agree that one of the most important actions we can take to save lives is to separate people from the toxic drug supply. That’s why B.C. implemented in 2020, and expanded in 2021, a safer supply program – the first and only province in Canada to do this.”

The federal government regulates controlled drugs and substances and Malcolmson said they are focused on what the provincial government can do going forward.

by Amy Judd / Global BC

Safer drug supply needed to prevent illicit drug deaths, says new B.C. coroner’s report

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