A newly released study has confirmed what many with common sense suspected from the start of British Columbia's drug decriminalization and “safer supply” experiment: opioid overdoses significantly increased since its rollout.

The study, published in the JAMA Health Forum, found that both the province’s so-called “safer supply” initiative and the broader decriminalization of hard drugs were associated with a spike in opioid-related hospitalizations.

The research, conducted by a team from Memorial University, the University of Manitoba, and Weill Cornell Medicine, analyzed opioid-related hospitalizations in B.C. from 2016 to 2023. It found that after the province introduced its safer supply program in 2020, opioid-related hospital visits increased by 33%.

When drug decriminalization was implemented in January 2023, the rate spiked further, leading to an overall 58% increase in hospitalizations compared to pre-2020 levels.

While the study stops short of explicitly stating that B.C.'s decriminalization and “safer supply” policies caused the province's concerning rise in opioid-related hospitalizations, the strong correlation that was established adds to mounting concerns over the NDP government’s handling of its opioid crisis.

This also brings into further question the NDP government’s decision to keep Dr. Bonnie Henry on as B.C.'s provincial health officer, despite evidence continuing to stack up, showing that her approach to the province’s overdoses has caused more harm than good.

Henry was a staunch supporter of prolonged lockdowns and gave her blessing on the decriminalization agenda in 2020, even after early data showed COVID-19 lockdown measures also contributed to a sharp rise in B.C. overdoses.

According to an inquiry of ministry obtained by Rebel News in 2021, despite citizens being told to isolate and avoid overwhelming hospitals which were supposedly overrun with COVID patients, the province saw 8,566 substance use hospitalizations between March and August of 2020, compared to only 567 COVID-related hospitalizations from January to August in the same year.

Henry has also played a leading role in advancing radical drug policies, backing not only the decriminalization experiment that has now been linked to increased overdoses but also other controversial measures, such as allowing drug users to take home “safer supply” opioids. Reports have since emerged that these taxpayer-funded drugs have ended up in the hands of organized criminals and youth.

Henry even floated the idea of offering smokable fentanyl and selling hard drugs in stores without the oversight of doctors or addiction specialists.

Rather than acknowledging that her policies may be fuelling the crisis, Henry has repeatedly framed the overdose epidemic as a consequence of colonialism and racism — downplaying the role of widespread drug availability and diversion.

The Conservative Party of B.C. has been calling for Henry’s removal and demanding a full public inquiry into the extent to which safer supply drugs are being trafficked into illicit markets. So far, the NDP government has ignored these calls.

The study’s findings also come as B.C. faces increasing scrutiny from outside Canada.

On February 1, U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order threatening tariffs on Canada over the cross-border flow of fentanyl. That order specifically named British Columbia as a key source of illicit drugs entering the United States.

An excerpt from the since-paused order, titled “Imposing Duties to Address the Flow of Illicit Drugs Across Our Northern Border,” stated:

Canada’s Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre recently published a study on the laundering of proceeds of illicit synthetic opioids, which recognized Canada’s heightened domestic production of fentanyl, largely from British Columbia, and its growing footprint within international narcotics distribution.

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