Federal Election 2019 - Questions to ask candidates & parties
Here are some questions that we encourage you to ask of your candidates and the parties vying for your vote on Monday, October 21st, 2019. Don’t know who your candidates are for your riding? You can find the information here. Please review and consider the background information below the corresponding questions and help to bring more awareness to this public health crisis that is killing 12 Canadian's per day an make it an important election issue! You can help us by sharing this widely to friends and in social media using these hashtags: #OverdoseCrisis #Elxn43 #CDNpoli.
Questions to ask candidates and their parties:
What will you/your party do to address the overdose crisis?
Where do you/does your party stand on the decriminalization of personal possession of illicit substances?
Where do you/does your party stand on providing safe supply of prescription grade substances in order to stop the preventable overdose deaths from tainted illicit drugs in this country?
Where do you/does your party stand on harm reduction measures, such as access to naloxone free of charge, distribution of harm reduction supplies and supervised consumption services?
Background information to Question 1:
Canada has a "Four Pillar Drug Strategy": Harm Reduction, Treatment, Prevention and Enforcement. In the past, most investment (90+ %) has been in enforcement and only in recent years more investment has been made into harm reduction and treatment. Prevention still falls short in many ways with mental health issues, trauma, poverty and other contributing factors going unaddressed. Ideally, we would like to see candidates support the four pillars approach, with a strong focus on harm reduction and treatment including safe supply (see below) to address the immediate crisis and a long-term prevention focus that addresses underlying issues. Currently investment in each of the pillars, other than enforcement, is not proportionate to the magnitude of the crisis, so we are looking for parties to commit to greater investment to address the crisis.
Background information to Question 2:
People using and dying alone is closely related to the stigma and criminalization of substance use. Criminalization also means that a disproportionate amount of resources goes into the criminal justice system. Portugal has shown that decriminalization and shifting resources to treatment and prevention can drastically reduce overdose rates and provide more people with the help they need. While this model does not address the issue of the tainted illicit supply, it is an important step to reduce stigma and see problematic substance use as a health rather than criminal justice matter.
Background information to Question 3:
Overdose data has shown that in the worst hit provinces, including BC, AB and ON, over 80% of the deaths are attributed to toxic street drugs, in most cases involving fentanyl and fentanyl analogues. The high number of deaths (12 people die in Canada every day) has resulted in a drop in the overall life expectancy in BC and Alberta and a plateau across the country, after years of increases in overall life expectancy. Models for "heroin assisted treatment" in Switzerland and in BC have shown that providing people who use drugs with safe prescription grade supplies not only reduces deaths, but also contributes to a decline in overall problematic use and in crime rates. This is referred to as #SafeSupply by the drug policy community. There are models of #SafeSupply in BC, however, they reach too few people in few places and have a high threshold of criteria to enter the programs. Large scale #SafeSupply models are needed to immediately address the crisis and models for substances other than opioids, such as stimulants and benzodiazepines, are needed. Once people are stable they are in a better position to deal with the issues that contributed to problematic use. Using drugs should not mean that people need to risk losing their lives.
Background information to question 4:
#HarmReducationSavesLives! This has been shown in a study in BC that showed overdose death would be 2.5 times higher without these measures, including naloxone distribution and supervised consumption (the study also considered the impact of opioid substitution treatment), yet, in the general public and amongst politicians harm reduction is often seen as "encouraging" substance use or "giving up on people". Our answer is that harm reduction encourages life, and dead people don't recover. We have learned that substance use occurs regardless of risk, but if we keep people safe we can build relationships and give people a chance. This is shown by over 10,000 referrals to treatment services made by Alberta supervised consumption services (SCS) in the past 2 years, as well as studies from BC that show that people using an SCS are 30% more likely to enter treatment. We also recognize that some people don't seek treatment for a range of reasons, including severe trauma. We repeat: Using drugs should not mean risking your life.
