e-4930 (Health)

Petition to the Government of Canada

• Healthcare professionals and drug addiction experts have been ignored by the federal government for criticizing the safer supply strategy;
• The Public Health Agency of Canada has also stated that Canada continues to face an unprecedented overdose crisis;
• Overdose deaths have more than tripled in Canada since the early 2000s with most due to opioid use;
• Harm reduction strategies fail to decrease opioid use;
• Such strategies foster illegal drug resale, increase crime, and encourage youth addiction;
• Safe Injection Sites threaten public safety in host communities with some being placed next to schools and public parks;
• The federal government has turned an ideological blind eye to experts who informed the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions that safer supply does not work;
• Experts want a focus on strategies aimed at reducing addiction;
• The federal government must also understand the threat posed to the public;
• If sites are not eliminated, more funding must be provided to municipalities for public safety; and
• The federal government should fund initiatives that keep communities safe and break the cycle of addiction through expanding successful programs such as Ontario’s Opioid Agonist Therapy Services pilot project and its injectable Opioid Agonist Therapy.