Safer supply drug users will have to go to pharmacies multiple times a day under new B.C. model

A day after B.C.'s health minister overhauled the province's prescription opioid program, the B.C. Conservative Opposition House leader shared her own story about the "insurmountable" price paid by her family following the loss of four loved ones to the toxic drug crisis. 

Á'a:líya Warbus, who represents Chilliwack-Cultus Lake, said a year ago, her cousin, who she said was like a brother to her, died from a lethal dose of drugs. 

"He lost his life because this government has not only failed to stop the flow of fentanyl into our communities, they then inflated the market with so-called safer supply," Warbus said during question period. 

"All drugs are lethal in the hands of vulnerable people who need solutions now."

The safer supply program — which provides regulated opioids to drug users with a prescription— was introduced in March 2020 during the pandemic as a way to separate people from toxic and deadly street drugs. 

However, there is evidence, confirmed by leaked Ministry of Health slides, that a "significant amount" of prescription opioids, including hydromorphone, were not being taken by the intended users but instead sold in exchange for toxic street drugs and ending up in the hands of organized criminals. 

WATCH | Safe supply user says changes to program mean 7 pharmacy visits per day: 

Pharmacists and drug users react to end of take-home prescription opioid program

1 day ago

Duration 2:36

Concern is growing over how the province's overhaul of the safer supply program will work. People who rely on prescription opioids will now need to take them under the supervision of a pharmacist. As Jessica Cheung explains, pharmacists and users say they've been left in the dark.

That's what led to Health Minister Josie Osborne's announcement Wednesday that people who use safer supply must now take it under the supervision of a pharmacist or health provider in an effort to stop the diversion problem. 

Harm reduction advocates, however, say the changes will make it harder for people to access prescription opioids, which are much safer than deadly street drugs.

Guy Felicella, a former drug user turned outreach worker on the Downtown Eastside, said having a supply of regulated opioids was key to keeping him alive as he battled heroin addiction.

Safer supply and addiction treatment go hand in hand, Felicella said, because if someone relapses after treatment, prescription opioids can prevent a fatal overdose. 

He worries adding extra barriers to prescription opioids will push people back to street fentanyl. 

"They don't have the capacity to show up at a pharmacy three or four times a day to pick up their medication. So my concern would be that this could push them back to the unregulated drug supply," Felicella said.

"Compared to the people dying of these toxic drug overdoses, diversion to me is a very small problem," said Dr. Mark Tyndall, a professor at the UBC School of Population and Public Health and the former executive director of the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.

Tyndall, who provided prescription opioids to about 120 patients, said moving to a witnessed model effectively kills B.C.'s safer supply program. 

Osborne disagrees. 

"The safer supply program, there is ample evidence that is showing how it works, how it is stabilizing people; it is connecting them to treatment and recovery," Osborne said. 

Osborne said while new patients who receive a prescription for hydromorphone will have to take the doses under supervision, the witnessed model will be phased in over several weeks for existing patients. 

Lorna Bird, who lives in the Downtown Eastside, told CBC News she takes 14 hydromorphone pills a day and without them, "I can't even function."

The changes to require witnessed dosing will mean she'll have to go to the pharmacy every hour.

"I don't even understand how that's going to work," Bird said. "Unless you get a place in the pharmacy and live there, because what else are you going to do?"

Warbus said in the face of a toxic drug crisis that has killed 16,328 people since a public health emergency was declared in April 2016, the NDP's strategy keeps people in the cycle of addiction instead of providing a robust system of addiction treatment. 

Warbus also told reporters that last fall, her family buried her 13-year-old nephew, who found a wallet with drugs in it and died that night "while his mom slept in the next room."

Warbus, a member of the Sto:lo Nation and the daughter of former lieutenant-governor Steven Point, said the Indigenous community has been disproportionately impacted by the opioid crisis. 

Earlier this month, the B.C. Conservatives released leaked Ministry of Health slides, which showed government and law enforcement officials were aware that a significant portion of prescription opioids were not going to those who needed them but instead were being trafficked nationally and internationally.

Osborne also announced Wednesday an investigation into 60 "bad actor" pharmacies that are allegedly offering incentives to doctors and housing providers to entice clients to get their safer supply drugs from them. 

The pharmacies receive money from the government through the Pharmacare program based on the number of prescriptions they fill, which is why some resorted to kickbacks in order to attract clients with safer supply prescriptions. 

Asked if police had visited any of those pharmacies, Osborne could not answer.