(Vancouver) Conservative Party of Canada Leader Erin O’Toole says he wants to approach the nation’s opioid overdose epidemic as “a health emergency” rather than a scourge of crime. It is also committed to continuing to allow the opening of supervised injection centers.
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Visiting Last Door, an addiction treatment center in Westminster, a suburb of Vancouver, O’Toole pledged to invest $ 325 million over the next three years to add 1,000 more beds in residential addiction treatment resources. and build 50 new such establishments across the country.
This is a major change of course for the Conservatives. The previous Governor Harper advocated more a repressive approach in the matter and tried to prevent the existence of injection sites.
“We need to have a compassionate approach to drug addicts in our justice system. It is not appropriate to have a sentence (in prison) for a drug addict. It is a condition of health and we must show more compassion and reserve serious penalties for (traffickers), ”said Mr. O’Toole, in a passage in French of his speech.
The Conservative leader therefore believes that the police should concentrate their efforts in tracking down traffickers rather than consumers.
However, he was careful not to push the reasoning further so far as to address the possibility of decriminalization of opioids or any other drug.
Erin O’Toole also said she intends to improve resources for drug treatment and prevention in Indigenous communities. He also wants to work with the provinces to provide free naloxone kits, the antidote to opioid overdoses.
For the representative of the Vancouver Area Drug Users Network (acronym VANDU), Garth Mullins, this approach represents a major evolution from the previous Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He argues, however, that focusing on healing and abstinence is wrong because the core of the problem is misidentified.
Last Door CEO Jared Nilsson believes healing allows for a broader approach to drug treatment,
“That’s the problem with simple decriminalization. We keep people stuck where they are, he argues. Decriminalization is not enough. There needs to be a comprehensive model: treatment, recovery, sites of consumption, and risk reduction. ”
Health Canada is currently working with the City of Vancouver to implement exemptions from criminal prosecution for simple possession of small amounts of narcotics.
Vancouver is the epicenter of Canada’s opioid overdose epidemic. British Columbia recorded a record 1,176 opioid-related deaths in 2020. In total, 7,000 deaths have been recorded since the crisis was declared a public health emergency in April 2016.
Outgoing NDP MP Peter Julian criticized the Conservative leader for lacking clarity on the issue of decriminalization, recalling that his party had always been transparent on the subject.
The two men passed each other in front of the addiction treatment center where the Conservative announcement took place.
Mr. Julian wants the federal government to declare an emergency to fight opioids and ensure a safe supply. In the medium term, he calls for an investigation into the pharmaceutical industry and a means to compensate his victims.
“Seventeen Canadians die every day from this crisis,” he said. Without these two measures, any advertisement is just a facade. ”
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