Ottawa, ON – Laila Goodridge, Conservative Shadow Minister for Addictions, released the following statement:
“After nine years, Justin Trudeau’s reckless experiment of flooding our streets with taxpayer-funded hard drugs has failed. Since Trudeau became Prime Minister, nearly 45,000 Canadians have died from overdoses, an increase of 184 percent over the last nine years.
“In British Columbia, the Liberal-NDP coalition’s approach of legalizing hard drugs was such a catastrophic failure that BC’s radical government had to plead with Trudeau to walk back aspects of the experiment. In the first year that the Liberal-NDP coalition ran this experiment, 2,500 Canadians died from overdose deaths.
“Now, the NDP-Liberals in British Columbia are calling for the expansion of their taxpayer-funded hard drug scheme. This report also suggests allowing people with addictions to access hard drugs, even if they don’t have a prescription and advocates for drugs like fentanyl, crack and meth to be sold in government-run stores.
“The Liberal-NDP coalition must reject these recommendations immediately. Already, the Liberal-NDP coalition’s hard drug scheme has resulted in massive diversions of Trudeau’s so-called “safer supply” into the hands of drug dealers who turn around and sell it to kids. We have seen stories of children faced with violence and drug use on school playgrounds and communities that are littered with used needles and drug paraphernalia.
“Just last week, police in London reported that seizures of hydromorphone in London are up by 3,000 percent. Yet, in spite of these heartbreaking and disturbing facts, Trudeau’s Addictions Minister referred to this deadly scheme as a success.
“The Liberal-NDP coalition must end the crime, chaos and disorder. Only Common Sense Conservatives will end Trudeau’s dangerous drug legalization experiment, stop the handing out of taxpayer funded hard drugs, and we will focus on treatment and recovery to bring our loved ones home drug free.”