'Significant deficiencies' found in B.C.’s harm reduction programs

British Columbia's drug-enabling approach to its spiraling drug crisis received another blow this week after the province's Auditor General, Michael Pickup, announced that the province failed to "effectively implement" two of its harm reduction programs.

On Tuesday, the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) released a report detailing their findings from two audits which probed into the implementation of BC's overdose prevention and supervised consumption services, and the initial phase of the safer-supply program.

"In both audits, we found significant deficiencies,” Pickup stated in a video posted to the OAG's X account (formerly known as Twitter). “Therefore, we concluded that the ministries had not ensured effective implementation of these life-saving programs that are such an integral part of the ministry's response to the toxic drug crisis,” he added.

While the report acknowledges that the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions and the Ministry of Health did meet some of the OAG's criteria, including monitoring operational performance and funding, the audit found the ministries failed in key areas of assessment. This included failures in addressing "persistent challenges and barriers to province-wide implementation" of the safer-supply drug program and achieving the "minimum service standards" and proper "engagement with health authorities, people with lived and living experience, and Indigenous Peoples."

Pickup called the findings "unfortunate" and said the OAG has made seven recommendations for improvement, all of which the office's website says the ministries have agreed to implementing.

In January 2023, British Columbia decriminalized toxic drug use, permitting citizens to possess up to 2.5 grams of illicit substances without legal consequence.

Earlier this month, RCMP confirmed that hard drugs being obtained through the province's "safer-supply" program are being sold illegally by drug dealers and sometimes being diverted into the hands of children.

Despite the province's "harm reduction" approach, British Columbians endured a record-high overdose death toll of 2,511 people in 2023, according to the BC Coroner’s office.

Drea Humphrey

B.C. Bureau Chief

Based in British Columbia, Drea Humphrey reports on Western Canada for Rebel News. Drea’s reporting is not afraid to challenge political correctness, or ask the tough questions that mainstream media tends to avoid.

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