B.C. pilot project to distribute clean opioids to people at high risk of overdose
The aim is not to treat addiction, but to stop overdose deaths due to toxic street drugs
The Globe and Mail (Canada)
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
Ottawa has approved a pilot project that will allow health officials in B.C. to distribute clean opioids to drug users to use as they please, marking one of the province's most radical efforts to address a fentanyl-saturated drug supply that has killed more than 1,000 people this year. Details are still being finalized, but Mark Tyndall, executive director of the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC), said the idea is that people at high risk of overdose, once registered, will be able to pick up hydromorphone pills at either supportive housing units or supervised consumption facilities, two or three times a day, and self-administer them. Most would likely choose to crush, cook and inject them.
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