Ottawa, ON – Todd Doherty, Conservative Shadow Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, released the following statement calling out the Liberal-NDP Government for voting against the recommendations of 17 medical professionals who called for the end of the taxpayer-funded dangerous drugs and government funding for hydromorphone:
“17 experienced Canadian Society of Addiction Medicine physicians wrote a letter to the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions calling on the government to stop funding hydromorphone for people with addictions. Conservatives brought forward a motion at Health Committee calling for an immediate end to the government’s so-called safe supply funding as it is making the opioid crisis worse in Canada.
“Investigative reporting has revealed that safe supply is being sold and traded on the streets of Vancouver. Still in its government packaging, hydromorphone can be purchased at street level for just over a dollar a pill. One undercover reporter purchased 26 pills for just $30.
“After eight years of dangerous drug experiments by the Liberal-NDP government, the opioid crisis is devastating families and communities. More people died from opioid overdose in the first eight months of 2023 than in 2013, 2014 and 2015 combined. There have been 1,645 overdose deaths in British Columbia alone as of August this year. In fact, overdose is now the leading cause of death for BC youth aged 10 to 18.
“The Liberal-NDP government seeks to further fast-track their dangerous taxpayer-funded drug programs. Common-sense Conservatives will end the so-called safe supply and bring home our loved ones drug-free.