Held to account... nice work Official Opposition
Les Leyne: Conservative critic forces new curbs on safe supply of drugs
NDP Health Minister Josie Osborne announced a significant curtailment of the safe supply policy for dealing with opioid addiction — and it looks to be in direct response to concerns the Opposition started raising two years ago.
NDP Health Minister Josie Osborne
announced a significant curtailment of the safe supply policy for dealing with opioid addiction and it looks to be in direct response to concerns the Opposition started raising two years ago.
After repeatedly discounting questions about whether hard drugs prescribed to protect people from deadly street supply were being diverted to the black market, the government finally fully acknowledged it is a significant problem.
It was Conservative critic Elenore Sturko who pursued the issue and shared a devastating leaked government document that confirmed the problem. She was on the verge of tears after Osborne’s announcement, thinking about all the lives lost.
After Sturko seized on the issue and independent media stories reporting about the “prescribed alternatives program” around B.C. where patients collect their allotment of pills improperly, or routinely sold them to buyers on the sidewalk, Osborne gave a frank outline of the problem.
She said about 60 of B.C.’s 1,500 pharmacies appear to be engaged in illegal activities involving improper fees and kickbacks. They are all under investigation and subject to potential criminal investigation.
Meanwhile, the dispensing of hard drugs on demand is being changed immediately to a regime where consumption of the pills has to be witnessed by a health care worker.
NDP Health Minister Josie Osborne announced a significant curtailment of the safe supply policy for dealing with opioid addiction — and it looks to be in direct response to concerns the Opposition started raising two years ago.
www.timescolonist.com