Ottawa rejects Alberta’s request for new tracking for ’safer supply’ drugs

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OTTAWA – The federal Liberal authorities is rejecting a proposal from the Alberta authorities to think about including a “distinctive chemical identifier” to the prescription drugs being supplied to customers as a substitute for avenue medicine.

Psychological Well being and Addictions Minister Ya’ara Saks wrote Monday to her counterpart in Alberta, saying that whereas she takes considerations about diversion critically, the province’s proposal raises sensible considerations.

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Critics, together with some dependancy specialists, need the federal authorities to rethink its help for packages that supply drug customers prescription drugs like hydromorphone as a substitute for avenue medicine.

Consultants say the nation’s overdose disaster is basically being fuelled by an more and more poisonous drug provide. Nearly all of overdose deaths recorded from January to June 2023 concerned fentanyl.

Greater than 40,000 individuals have died from opioid-related deaths since 2016, which is when the federal company started gathering statistics on the phenomenon.

British Columbia was the primary jurisdiction to supply drug customers a provide of pharmaceutical alternate options by means of so-called “safer-supply” packages.

After the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, Ottawa supplied funds to different pilot packages in Ontario and New Brunswick, citing the heightened threat of pandemic-related restrictions and disruptions to the drug provide.

Within the yr since, critics have warned that some drug customers are participating in safer-supply packages, solely to show round and promote these medicine on the road.

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The difficulty was flagged by Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial well being officer, as a “widespread prevalence” in her latest evaluation of her province’s safer provide program.

The scope of the issue is unclear, Henry mentioned, but it surely underlines how diversion poses a threat to people who usually are not already utilizing medicine.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has rejected providing such alternate options in her province, as an alternative saying they’re centered on providing extra restoration choices.

Provincial information reveals opioid-related overdose deaths in Alberta proceed to spike.

Alberta Psychological Well being and Addictions Minister Dan Williams wrote to Well being Minister Mark Holland earlier this month to precise considerations about diversion, asking for “arduous proof” it was having an affect.

He instructed requiring that any drug prescribed below the safer-supply banner embody a further ingredient, a “distinctive chemical identifier that will permit testing of the drug’s origin.”

Such an addition would permit authorities to trace the place diverted provides of the medicine are ending up, Williams argued.

However the letter from Saks makes clear she has doubts.

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“It’s unclear how this is able to work in follow, given these medicine usually are not manufactured particularly for these packages and are additionally used for different medical functions resembling ache administration,” she writes.

“I’ve requested my officers to achieve out to yours to debate a number of the potential sensible points with this proposition.”

Ottawa is working with safer-supply packages to make sure they’ve mitigation methods in place, she continues — however the authorities additionally desires to confront “misconceptions and misinformation” across the coverage.

“The concept these packages are merely handing out medicine to anybody is fake,” Saks writes. Solely a small variety of jurisdictions provide such packages, which “serve comparatively few purchasers,” the letter notes.

In an announcement Tuesday, Williams accused Saks and the federal authorities of ignoring Alberta’s considerations.

In a latest interview with The Canadian Press, Saks dismissed the considerations of safer-supply critics as rooted in worry and stigma, prompting a stern response from a gaggle of docs and dependancy specialists.

“Please don’t use stigma and worry to justify the harms brought on by diverted safer provide drugs,” the physicians wrote to Saks.

“Road medicine shouldn’t be offered by government-funded packages. Funding of hurt discount packages must be contingent upon protected practices,” together with correct supervision, they warned.

A spokesman for Saks mentioned the minister will proceed to think about a spread of opinions, noting she and Well being Canada officers lately met with a number of the docs who oppose the initiative.

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