Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside weighs in on Dr. Henry’s 'safer supply' expansion recommendation

Last Thursday, British Columbia’s Public Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, released a shocking report which recommended that the province's minister of health expand the province's already highly-criticized “safer supply” program.

The report entitled, "ALTERNATIVES TO UNREGULATED DRUGS: ANOTHER STEP IN SAVING LIVES," included a commitment to “undoing white supremacy” and the suggestion for the province to adopt a non-medical model to combat the province's drug overdose crisis by allowing citizens to purchase hard drugs such as heroin without a prescription.

Henry also suggested the province consider a “retail-based approach” that would allow addictive drugs to be sold in government and retail spaces.

The Conservative Party of BC was quick to condemn the suggestions, adding them to a laundry list of objections they’ve previously raised about the NDP’s management of B.C.’s drug crisis.

These objections include the decriminalization of drug use near schools, the expansion of “safe injection sites, which correlated with an increase in crime near their locations, and reports of “safer supply” drugs being diverted into the hands of children. The CPBC also called for Henry to resign for the recommendations in the report.

With B.C.’s general election looming this October, the NDP government was quick to reject Dr. Henry’s proposal to expand the drug program, with Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Jennifer Whiteside stating, "the province will not go in the direction of compassion clubs and other non-medical models of distributing medications."

In today’s report, Rebel News’ Drea Humphrey visits Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, an area notorious for homelessness and open drug use, to get the locals' opinions on the public health officer's suggestions.

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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