Print Posted 03/03/2019 in Posted 03/03/2019 in Category 1

Canada Approved Prescription Heroin – What This Means for the U.S.

In recent news, the Canadian government recently approached drug regulations that will essentially allow doctors to prescribe pharmaceutical grade heroin. No, you did not read that incorrectly. Yes, in very specific situations, pharmaceutical grade heroin will now be available in Canada as a medical therapy.

It all started with Crosstown, a highly controversial clinic in Vancouver, British Columbia. This clinic already has a special “heroin-maintenance” program, in which addicts could come into the program and receive free, nurse-supervised injections of heroin as many as three times a day. The Crosstown program was the only one of its kind in Canada and the U.S., but there are eight other countries in the world that utilize programs like this in full force.

With the new policy signed into place by Justin Trudeau, new changes will now make “heroin clinics” legal across all of Canada, which could make heroin trafficking into the U.S. more common. It could also create a variety of negative problems for Canadians too. And this is not the only drug-related change that Trudeau is making. Trudeau also promised to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes. Of course, the future-thinkers are seeing a future in Canada where all drugs are legal, across the boards, and for all purposes.

For better or for worse, Canada is slowly but surely approaching the condition of mass decriminalization of drug practices and the legalization of all drugs. Will it happen in our lifetimes? It's hard to say. But it probably will happen.

Big Changes in Canada

The government that was in control before Trudeau took over was a more conservative government (as Canadian governments go). Trudeau, however, is making waves and big changes in the country and altering decades-old policy. Trudeau even granted a four-year extension to a supervised injection site called “Insite”, a program in Vancouver that allows addicts to bring in drugs off the street and shoot up in a controlled environment. As we can see, Trudeau and his Administration is very pro-legalization and is for minimal drug policy and enforcement.

Of course, don't think that Trudeau’s policy changes have not been met without direct opposition. For example, Colin Carrie, a Conservative member of Parliament and the Conservative party’s spokesperson on health policy had this to say about the party’s feelings on heroin:

“Our policy is to take heroin out of the hands of addicts and not put it in their arms.”

There are argued benefits to the new changes, however, and those benefits are constantly touted by Trudeau's supporters. When addicts are going into doctor’s offices to receive medicated heroin, they are staying off the streets, they are not breaking the law, and overall law enforcement costs will reduce in those areas massively as a result. Furthermore, as addicts are now on legalized heroin, those addicts can now get jobs, can provide for their families, etc. This is not the end-all, crippling crisis of street drug heroin use, but it is not necessarily a miracle solution either.

How Canadian Change can Influence the U.S.

The trafficking of drugs from Canada to the United States is already a matter of some concern. While it is not as prevalent of an issue as the trafficking of drugs from Mexico into the U.S. is, or the trafficking of drugs overseas from other countries into the United States is, this is still an issue of prevalent concern.

If Canada makes heroin legal, more available, more accessible, will it add to the heroin trafficking problem or will it reduce it? Honestly, it is hard to say. This would be legalized, pharmaceutical-grade heroin that would only be administered in doctors’ clinics and would be kept under lock and key in those doctor's offices, but there is absolutely concern here as to what new laws in Canada will mean for heroin trafficking.

Without being able to see the future, we can safely consider that increasing a drug’s presence in any area, no matter the circumstances involved will have the direct result of increasing trafficking into, out of, and around that area. This is the logical conclusion. When Canada makes the decision to allow for more heroin within their borders, that can only logically mean that more heroin will be coming over the border from Canada and into the United States.

This is why the United States needs to have better border patrol policies with Canada. While the U.S. and Canadian border is more than three times as long as the U.S. and Mexican border is, it is only manned by one-tenth of the border patrol officers that the U.S. and Mexican border gets. We also need better diplomacy and policy between the United States and our northern neighbor, all in the name of keeping drugs out of our country, regardless of what the Canadian government wants to do with drugs in their country.

Sources:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/09/13/canada-has-just-approved-prescription-heroin/?utm_term=.6c03e304bcf7

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/canada-legalizes-heroin/

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/canada-approves-prescription-heroin-combat-opioid-crisis/story?id=42081755