B.C. drug decriminalization and safer supply associated with more overdoses: study
By Canadian Press on March 25, 2025.
VANCOUVER — A study into safer supply and drug decriminalization policies in British Columbia has found that both were associated with increased opioid overdose hospitalizations.
The report says that there was no change in deaths associated with safer supply, while neither policy appeared to mitigate the opioid crisis that has claimed more than 16,000 lives in B.C. since being declared a public health emergency in 2016.
The authors of the study, published in JAMA Health Forum, says it’s believed to be the first evidence on the association between overdoses and the decriminalization of drug possession in B.C., introduced in January 2023 then heavily curtailed in May 2024.
They say the increase in hospitalizations could be due to greater willingness to seek medical help, since decriminalization could reduce stigma, but it’s also possible that less stigma and fewer criminal penalties boost overdoses by facilitating diversion of safe-supply opioids.
The study was by researchers from Memorial University in St. John’s, as well as the University of Manitoba and Weill Cornell Medicine in New York.
The research found that safer supply alone was associated with a 33 per cent increase in opioid hospitalizations, while the addition of decriminalization was associated with a further spike for an overall increase of 58 per cent, compared with before the safer supply program was introduced in 2020.
“There was insufficient evidence to conclusively attribute an increase in opioid overdose deaths to these policy changes,” it says.
The safer supply program involves providing pharmaceutical grade opioids to people at risk of overdosing, but critics say it potentially worsens the crisis if safer supply drugs are diverted onto the streets.
The study looked at data from the beginning of 2016 to the end of 2023.
The province’s coroners service said earlier this month that 152 people died of toxic drug overdoses in January, marking four consecutive months that the toll was under 160.
Deaths in B.C. in January were down more than 30 per cent from a year earlier.
There have recently been declines in drug deaths across North America, with Health Canada reporting a 12 per cent decline from January to September 2024, compared to the same period in 2023.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 25, 2025
The Canadian Press
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Portland Oregon experienced increased fatal overdoses by as high as 60% when they introduced decriminalization.
I am not sure where you got your statistics from when you state “Deaths in B.C. in January were down more than 30 per cent from a year earlier . . .” is that January 2025?
Another recent report stated that fatal overdoses last year were down 13%, but BC is playing with statistics now and doesn’t include fatal overdoses from safe supply drugs, and yes there are people dying from safe supply drugs . . . all drugs are toxic!
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/2024-unregulated-drug-deaths-1.7450367
“…The B.C. Coroners Service says 2,253 people were killed by unregulated drugs in 2024, marking the lowest annual death toll from the drug-toxicity crisis in the province in four years. According to the coroners service, the deaths — which amounted to more than six per day in British Columbia last year — represented a 13 per cent decrease from 2023….” NOTE THAT IN THIS CASE THEY CALL THE ILLEGAL DRUGS UNREGULATED, SOMETIMES THEY CALL THEM ILLEGAL OR TOXIC BUT THE STATS DO NOT INCLUDE SAFE SUPPLY DRUG FATAL OVERDOSES!
How can you label something as safe supply, when prescribed opioids got many people addicted in the first place and BC began a lawsuit to sue pharmaceutical companies for the opioid crisis? Now BC is a legal drug dealer with these drugs that they do not include in fatal overdoses . . . they only include the illegal toxic drugs!
This report should have made it clear that last year, there was only an 13% reduction in fatal overdoses reported . . . it is pretty bad that a government is so desperate to pretend their policies work that they manipulate statistics! Thousands are dead, billions have been blown of not just local or provincial tax dollars but of federal tax dollars that the rest of us do not have a say in . . . our money burned up in failed programs when proven programs are working right next to them!
Treatment and recovery policies are the proven way to go if you are serious about ending the high fatal overdose rates and issues that have taken over BC! I doubt they will ever learn!
The first safe injection site opened in Vancouver DTES in 2003, so they have had 22 years to prove harm reduction works . . . treatment and recovery programs and firm policing, with drug courts and compassionate intervention acts are the way to stop this horrific addiction crisis that has allowed people to slowly die on our streets in inhumane conditions. Stop encouraging and enabling them to live a life worse than animals and give them a chance at life with effective treatment and recovery programs!