Liberals double down on opioids for kids
After eight years of radical drug policies put in place by Liberal and NDP governments, the opioid crisis continues to devastate families across our country, including here in Provencher.
More than 40,000 Canadians have died from overdoses since Justin Trudeau was elected—22 a day in the first six months of 2023.
More people died from opioid overdose in the first eight months of 2023 than in 2013, 2014, and 2015 combined.
In B.C. with its disastrous policy of “safe injection sites”—after eight years of Justin Trudeau funding these policies with taxpayer dollars—drug overdose is now the leading cause of death for kids ages 10-18.
Last fall, 17 experienced physicians from the Society of Addiction Medicine wrote to the Liberal Health Minister calling on the Government to stop funding these sites and giving hydromorphone—a somewhat weaker but still potent schedule II opioid drug—to people with addictions.
Investigative journalism has revealed the so-called “safe supply” drugs—hydromorphone—are being given to addicts who are then selling them on the streets of Vancouver, often to kids, then using the proceeds to buy harder opioids. These are often laced with fentanyl leading to overdose deaths.
To be clear, the Government of Canada is using your tax dollars to pay for hard drugs, giving them to addicts via “safe injection sites”, who are then turning around and selling them to kids.
Not only is this Liberal-NDP policy perpetuating drug addiction, it is directly financing the next generation of addicts.
Liberals believe it is more important to “de-stigmatize” drug use. Conservatives believe we need to provide treatment for those struggling with addiction so we can bring home our brothers, sisters, and children drug free.
So called “safe injection” sites do not work. There is no credible evidence to prove they work. Even those physicians who claim they do cannot deny the reality that those with addictions are not getting better. They are dying.
As Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has noted, Justin Trudeau has implemented “a theory backed up by a group of activists, most of them tax-funded, pharmaceutical companies and others who stand to gain from perpetuating the crisis…These so-called “experts” are typically pie in the sky theorists with no experience getting people off drugs, or they’re members of the misery industry, those paid activists and public health bureaucrats whose jobs depend on the crisis continuing.”
That’s why it was so disappointing and alarming to see the Liberal-NDP Government double down on this radical policy that has devastated so many lives and families.
Last week, Liberal Addictions Minster Ya’ara Saks doubled down on this deadly policy of giving free dangerous taxpayer-funded drugs to those struggling with addiction. Even more concerning, she doubled down on their policy of prescribing fentanyl to children under age 18.
The B.C. NDP Government, funded by Justin Trudeau, have contracted the British Columbia Centre on Substance Abuse to have clinicians prescribe dangerous fentanyl to children under age 18 under the guise of so-called “safe supply”—and they are doing so without informing parents or obtaining parental consent.
Fentanyl is an opioid 50 times stronger than heroin.
According to the B.C. Coroner’s Service, 90% of drug deaths in that province involve fentanyl—an increase of 40% since Justin Trudeau came to power.
The worse the crisis gets, the further this Liberal Government moves away from commonsense solutions.
At the same time, they are banning legal firearms to (supposedly) “save lives” they are providing opioids. There were 343 gun-related deaths in Canada in 2022. From January to June of 2023 there were 3,970 opioid deaths. If we extrapolate that number over 12 months, more than 20 times as many folks are dying from opioids than guns. Despite this reality, they ban folks’ legal property and pay to give addicts and children this deadly poison. This government’s approach is completely nonsensical, but what do you expect from government whose first legislative priority when they came to power was legalizing marijuana.
Canada’s Conservatives recognize the damage Liberal drug policies and the opioid crisis have wreaked on families from coast to coast, including right here in Provencher.
Pharmaceutical companies knew and concealed information about how addictive these drugs were. In the same way voters will hold these Liberals accountable, the manufacturers of these drugs must be held responsible, and that’s exactly what Conservatives plan to do.
A Conservative Government will sue big pharma and hold them accountable for the costs of the crisis and all the harm they have done.
We will end so-called “safe supply” and close “safe injection” sites.
We will also toughen our laws to ensure those who deal illegally in dangerous drugs go to jail.
Conservatives will bring our loved ones home, drug free, by giving them access to treatment and recovery.
We will take the money the Liberals have invested in dangerous drugs and invest that money in treatment.
Recovery is possible.
Unlike the Liberals and NDP, Conservatives will not give up on Canadians suffering from addictions.
We will bring it home.