VANCOUVER—I spent 20 years injecting heroin. During the year that fentanyl hit the streets, I overdosed six times. On each occasion, I consumed what I believed was heroin but was probably fentanyl or its analogues — 100 times stronger than what I thought I was using.

Because of the quick reflexes of staff at Insite — the first supervised consumption site in Canada, located on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside — I survived. I was given the chance to keep fighting against my addiction, eventually achieving recovery and the life I have today.

Many people don’t get that chance. People with addiction are dying in huge numbers because of toxic street drugs, while punitive policies fail to take them out of circulation.

I’m here today to tell you that there is a better option.

Overdoses are down, but the toxic supply hasn’t dried up

Here in British Columbia, the provincial Coroners Service reported a slight decrease in overdose deaths this year. The number of fatalities will still be much higher in 2019 than it was five years ago, and I’ll tell you why: a toxic drug supply.

While it looks like overdose deaths are down for now in B.C., according to the BC Centre for Disease Control, the number of overdoses reported is actually rising. This tells us that the crisis is not over. The toxic drug supply is not drying up; it’s just that first responders and the community are getting better at saving lives.

What will stop the flow of toxic drugs?

Harm reduction and treatment services have been extremely effective in tempering the effects of contaminated drugs on people’s health. But they won’t stop the flow of toxic drugs into this country. In the internet era, when one needs to look no further than social media to learn how to cook crystal meth, it is clear that government and law enforcement have no hope of controlling the drug supply.

Policies that aim to prohibit drugs do not eliminate them. Rather, they line the pockets of powerful organized-crime groups, which have already reaped billions of dollars in the trade of illicit substances. They contribute to a range of negative — and completely avoidable — health and social consequences for people who use. Instead of the kingpins, these policies lead to the criminalization of the “low-hanging fruit”: drug users who are made visible to law enforcement by virtue of their struggles with homelessness, poverty and mental health.

Toward a safer supply

What does have a chance of significantly decreasing deaths — and in the process, reeling in organized crime — is providing those who are at risk of overdose with a safe, regulated supply of what they need. If the Canadian government is not willing to consider legalizing substances like heroin, then a middle ground would be to offer a safer supply through prescription-based programs with medical oversight and “compassion club” co-operative models.

As part of safer-supply programs, members would have access to medical grade, uncontaminated opioids like heroin — the preferred substance of 80 per cent of Vancouver opioid users, according to a survey by the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use. Most use fentanyl only because it’s what the dealers are selling.

After receiving a medical evaluation, they would be able to purchase small quantities of prescription drugs from facilities staffed by health-care workers and peers. They would be asked to pay on a sliding scale, with the price dependent on their income. In this model, the drug supply would be regulated and safe under the control of the authorities, not unpredictable in the hands of gangsters.

Introducing safe-supply programs like “compassion clubs” could actually prevent opioid addiction from developing. Switzerland, for example, observed a dramatic reduction in new users after prescription heroin became widely available. When drugs are regulated and no longer perceived as “forbidden fruit,” they seem to become unattractive to young people.

Human connection can change lives

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Safer-supply models could be so much more than just providing people with drugs. They could also serve as an important first step to accessing other services like health care, detox, counselling and advocacy.

They could also offer something important that is often overlooked: human connection. Addiction is hugely isolating, and human connection can change the direction of people’s lives. That’s exactly what happened to me.

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Once, after overdosing, I died for almost seven minutes. I remember waking up sobbing and telling the nurse who attended to me at Insite that I didn’t want to use anymore. I went in and out of recovery several times after that. Every time I started using drugs again, the staff didn’t judge me. They would just tell me, “Next time, you’ll succeed,” and supported me in the way that I needed them to in that moment.

Through its policies that “crack down” on drugs, the federal government is further isolating substance users. It is locking them away and branding them as criminals, when it should be looking past addiction to see human beings and their very real struggles.

Prohibition and punitive legislation won’t address the toxic supply. Instead, to end this crisis, the Canadian government needs to show some compassion.

Guy Felicella is a former heroin user and is now an activist, speaker and public health consultant. He works as a Peer Clinical Advisor with the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use. http://guyfelicella.com/

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