Feds provide $15 million for safer drug programs

Four pilot projects in Vancouver and Victoria have received $15 million in federal funding to provide safer drugs for people at risk of dying from overdose.

Mental Health and Addictions Minister Sheila Malcolmson joined Dr. Patricia Daly, chief medical health officer for Vancouver Coastal Health, and MP Hedy Fry to announce the funding aimed at reducing a record number of overdoses in B.C.

The drug supply has become increasingly toxic and we need to take care of those at risk. Today @HedyFry and I announced over $15M in fed. funding for four #safersupply projects in BC to provide safer pharmaceutical alternatives to the toxic supply. https://t.co/QqLEwCl1aP

— Sheila Malcolmson (@s_malcolmson) February 1, 2021

New programs will be implemented at Vancouver Coastal Health, AIDS Vancouver Island Health and Community Services, the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and the Urban Indigenous Health and Healing Cooperative.

Daly says Vancouver Coastal's share of $5 million will be used to expand peer support for those who will be permitted to take prescription alternatives home rather than consuming them at clinics.

Some addiction doctors have criticized the lack of safer drugs for those experiencing entrenched addiction, with calls for Health Canada to allow for domestic production of medical-grade heroin that is currently exported from Switzerland.

Thank you @s_malcolmson the partnership btw our governments, medical and community organisations is key to addressing substance use disorders. Safe supply is an essential element to prevent these preventable deaths https://t.co/JtFPzxgEo5

— Dr. Hedy Fry (@HedyFry) February 1, 2021

Fry says the federal government is working to create a homegrown supply of the drug that is currently available at only one clinic in Vancouver for a limited number of patients.