Posted on 02/14/2018 10:08:25 AM PST by pabianice
The British Columbia public health authorities are making a huge mistake. The province is advancing a series of reckless interventions that are counterproductive in fighting the opioid epidemic. If B.C. continues in this manner, the province is destined to remain in a state of perpetual opioid addiction.
Ottawa recently granted approval of a B.C. pilot to distribute high-dose hydromorphone, a potent opioid, three times daily at supportive housing units and supervised injection sites. Drug users are free to use the hydromorphone as they please; authorities anticipate many will crush and inject the opioids to intensify their high. Moreover, the province has plans to grant “qualified” opioid users biometric access to vending machines of hydromorphone for drug users’ convenient consumption.
Proponents argue that providing a readily accessible supply of “clean opioids” is necessary to reduce overdose deaths in an environment contaminated by fentanyl. The program’s architect, Dr. Mark Tyndall, executive director of the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, admits that installing opioid vending machines isn’t treatment but suggests there will be an ensuing transition to “substitution therapy and eventually recovery.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalpost.com ...
Finally, some common sense.
People don’t realize that the War on Drugs has made things worse.
The Drug Warriors have also succeeded in denying pain relief access for people who truly need it. Some of those people are forced to purchase drugs off the street. They must resort to putting their health and their lives on the line, because the street pills could be tainted with fatal ingredients, such as Fentanyl.
The idea of tossing non-violent drug users in jail with violent criminals is absurd and counterproductive.
I moved to Alberta from the lower mainland in 95, never looked back.
B.C. is actually decent in most places, it’s just the dang liberal strongholds that need to be brought down.
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