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According to a leaked memo, nurses in British Columbia's Northern Health Unit have been instructed not to confiscate weapons or drugs from patients. The memo, leaked by B.C. United, came following the province's decision to decriminalize drugs in 2022.

“This is becoming a widespread issue of significant magnitude,” British Columbia Nurses Union president Adriane Gear told Postmedia, per the Vancouver Sun. The BCNU president pointed to a conversation she had with a nurse who reported they were exposed to smoke from illicit drugs twice in the same week as an example.

As overdose deaths continue to skyrocket across the country, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Ya'ara Saks is standing by her government's support for 'safe supply' drugs.

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“There are reports of meth being smoked in a unit just hours after the birth of a newborn baby,” said B.C. United's health critic, Shirley Bond during a fiery question period in the legislature. “How many more nurses have to be put at risk and infants exposed to illicit hard drugs in our hospitals before the premier puts an end to this reckless decriminalization experiment?”

The 2022 exception under the federal Controlled Drugs and Substances Act granted to B.C. applies to individuals possessing 2.5 grams or less of heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine or MDMA.

MP Todd Doherty urged the Commons health committee to suspend its ‘safer supply’ drug policy after losing his brother-in-law to a fatal fentanyl overdose ‘on the street.’

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“[S]taff should not be searching a patient's personal belongings and taking away or holding onto their substances,” the memo, dated July 7, 2023, reads.

The memo further details how nurses should handle weapons, as the Sun reported:

“Staff DO NOT remove personal items from the patient’s room, even if there is a knife or something considered as a weapon under (four inches) long,” the memo reads. “We use our best professional judgment on this and risk of violence factors. The patient is asked to lock it up or ask someone to bring it home for them.”

Vape pens, pipes and other drug paraphernalia were not to be removed by nurses either, the outlet noted. 

The memo reminded nurses they were not law enforcement officers, and directed staff not to restrict visitors if patients were bringing drugs into facilities. “Only restrict if they are violent, intoxicated or posing a problem,” explains the memo.

Responding in question period, Health Minister Adrian Dix declared it “absolutely unacceptable” for weapons to be in public hospitals, and pointed out the province hired an additional 230 security guards in an effort to improve safety for health-care staff.

Federally, the Trudeau Liberals have poured over $1 billion into efforts to “directly address the overdose crisis” since 2017.