The Record: Opioid epidemic warrants tough medicine
The Record – March 9, 2022: When a deadly illness defies every conventional treatment, it’s time to reach for new medicine. That’s where Waterloo Region stands today in its battle against the opioid epidemic. We enlisted the police, courts and penal system to wage a war on dangerous, illicit drugs. It didn’t work. We turned to doctors, nurses and social workers — even opened a drug consumption and treatment centre in Kitchener. Those measures made a positive difference and saved many lives. But the crisis grew.
In 2021, 155 people in this region died of drug overdoses — more than the number of people who succumbed to COVID-19 here in the same period. It was also more than the 145 people in this region who died of drug overdoses in 2020 and the 105 killed by opioids the year before that. With numbers like these, we need to own up to our collective failure as a community. We need to admit that what we face is not primarily a criminal problem but instead a public health emergency. And we need to seriously consider a solution that until recently seemed impossible: legalize the simple possession of all drugs and regulate them — including the opioids that have for so long been such a scourge to us all.
The Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council recently endorsed legalization and regulation as the best way to reduce the harm being caused by these substances. If their proposal went forward, all drugs would be treated similarly to alcohol and cannabis, with strict regulations over production, distribution, sales, possession and consumption. The drug supply would be safer. Instead of laying criminal charges, police would focus on connecting individuals with the community supports that are available, such as addiction treatment as well as housing and income assistance.
Sounds radical? The legalization and regulation of all drugs would be more than just taking a big step; it would be a giant leap forward into unexplored territory in Canada. But it is also an option increasingly being recommended to our lawmakers. Waterloo Regional Police Chief Bryan Larkin endorses the change. So does the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, of which he is president. Ditto for the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police. Waterloo Regional Chair Karen Redman and Cambridge Mayor Kathryn McGarry are receptive to the idea. And across Canada — where 23,000 people died of opioid overdoses between January 2016 and March 2021 — the push for decriminalization is gaining momentum.
Last year, the British Columbia government and the cities of Vancouver and Toronto asked the federal government to provide an exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act that would permit the personal possession of illicit substances in those jurisdictions. That would be one way, a limited, localized way, to give decriminalization a try. Another approach would be for the federal government to make this change nationwide. While that will seem a more drastic move to some people, it could allow the federal and provincial governments to provide more co-ordinated and comprehensive medical and social service support for the change.
The important thing, in our view, isn’t to predetermine what the federal government’s response should be but rather for it to respond in some way to the proposal in terms of careful study and then, if appropriate, informed policy. In moving ahead, it can draw on its experience in decriminalizing cannabis — a move that seemed revolutionary a few years ago but one that Canadians have taken in stride. For those in Waterloo Region who remain apprehensive, it’s worth remembering that a consumption and treatment centre is saving lives in Kitchener, as is a safe supply program in that city. Both of those initiatives also seemed shocking — and to many unacceptable — just a few years ago.
Keep in mind that the fallout from the opioid crisis extends far beyond the drug users themselves. In addition to the rising number of deaths and near-deaths from drug overdoses, Waterloo Region has seen a surge in shootings, person-on-person robberies and break-ins, many of which police say can be traced back to drugs. Indeed, Waterloo Region has the sixth highest rate of opioid-related offenses in Canada and the second highest in Ontario. If nothing else does, that should encourage our regional government to officially support some form of decriminalization. After all, their best efforts to date have not been enough to end the opioid crisis.
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