More than 47,000 Canadians have died of opioid toxicity since 2016. Some have attributed this crisis to the over-prescription of medical-use opioids and the presence of potent synthetic opioids like fentanyl analogues in the illicit drug market. As a response, one of the strategies the federal government has adopted is harm reduction — an approach aiming “to reduce the negative health, social, and economic impacts of substance use related harms, without requiring or promoting abstinence.
” Common measures of this model include the provision of free and sterile needles to high-risk users and supervised consumption sites (SCS) where users consume substances under the guidance of medical professionals. Some politicians and commentators are skeptical of some harm reduction measures, especially SCS. However, scientific evidence shows its effectiveness in reducing overdose deaths and risky behaviours associated with the spread of HIV and viral hepatitis.
Alberta’s priority on recovery and treatment In 2019, the United Conservative Party (UCP) government released a report on the socio-economic impacts of SCS in Alberta, contending that these sites led to increased needle debris and violent crime, even though studies show that SCS do not cause more drug-related crime. Two peer-reviewed scientific papers, one published in the Harm Reduction Journal and another in the Canadian Journal of Public Health , have debunked misinformation in the province’s report . For instance, a gr.
