British Columbia91裸聊视频檚 chief coroner Lisa Lapointe says she91裸聊视频檚 a hopeful person, but she is leaving her office frustrated and disappointed.
Angry, even.
Lapointe has been at the forefront of the province91裸聊视频檚 battle against toxic drug overdoses for years, but she said the public health emergency that was declared in 2016 never received a 91裸聊视频渁 co-ordinated response commensurate with the size of this crisis.91裸聊视频�
Instead, she lamented a 91裸聊视频渙ne-off, beds and projects91裸聊视频� response to the emergency that the B.C. Coroners Service says has claimed more than more than 13,000 lives.
91裸聊视频淲e see these ad hoc announcements but sadly what we haven91裸聊视频檛 seen is a thoughtful, evidence-based, data-driven plan for how we are going to reduce the number of deaths in our province,91裸聊视频� said Lapointe in an interview Monday.
Lapointe, who retires in February, said she was particularly worried about what she feared was the creep of politics into vital public health decisions surrounding overdose policies.
She wondered whether the government even read a recent coroners service death review panel report that recommended providing controlled drugs to people without prescriptions.
The proposal was immediately rejected by the government last month, moments before Lapointe had an opportunity to present the conclusions at a press conference.
91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 hard, especially now, there are a lot of ideologies battling over this. It91裸聊视频檚 become a very political issue, unfortunately,91裸聊视频� Lapointe said.
She said that instead of abating, the crisis is poised to have its deadliest year yet.
91裸聊视频淲e know that last year we had almost 2,400 deaths and this year we are likely to see it even higher,91裸聊视频� she said. 91裸聊视频淭his year is looking to be the worst year ever in terms of lives lost to drug toxicity.91裸聊视频�
For months, the NDP government has faced opposition challenges about its safe-supply initiatives amid concerns about drug use in public areas and police investigations of government-funded organizations providing illegal drugs obtained from the underground market.
91裸聊视频淲ell, I91裸聊视频檓 sorry, but buying drugs from the dark web, supporting organized crime, is not life-saving work. It actually puts police and the public at risk,91裸聊视频� Opposition BC United Leader Kevin Falcon said in the legislature in October.
Falcon91裸聊视频檚 remarks came after Vancouver police said search warrants were executed at the Vancouver office of the Drug User Liberation Front, which had been buying, testing and distributing drugs in an effort to prevent overdose deaths. Two people were arrested.
Premier David Eby said the government91裸聊视频檚 contract to provide funding to DULF was terminated. 91裸聊视频淓ven though they were doing that important life-saving work, they were breaking the law and we can91裸聊视频檛 have it,91裸聊视频� he said earlier.
It was against this backdrop that the death review panel issued its Nov. 1 report. It estimated 225,000 people in B.C. were using unregulated drugs but fewer than 5,000 people a month had prescriptions to receive safe-supply drugs.
It said a fundamentally different approach was needed to save lives because 91裸聊视频渋ncremental increases in existing interventions91裸聊视频� weren91裸聊视频檛 likely to make much of an impact.
Michael Egilson, chair of the panel, said its first recommendation was that an application be made to the federal government for an exemption to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to allow access to opioid and stimulant drugs without a prescription.
The B.C. government was having none of it.
91裸聊视频淚 cannot accept the primary recommendations of this report to pursue a non-prescriber model of safer supply,91裸聊视频� said Jennifer Whiteside, B.C.91裸聊视频檚 minister of mental health and addictions, in a letter to Lapointe issued minutes before her scheduled news conference on the report.
Six weeks later and Lapointe doubts the report got due consideration.
91裸聊视频淚 think for government to dismiss those recommendations out of hand without even, I91裸聊视频檓 not even sure they read the report as the response came back so quickly,91裸聊视频� Lapointe said. 91裸聊视频淵ou can91裸聊视频檛 help but feel perhaps we did run into the politics of the issue.91裸聊视频�
She said she believed it was 91裸聊视频渧ery much a political response91裸聊视频� and to this day the government has not provided any response about it to her office.
Lapointe said she was saddened but won91裸聊视频檛 stop supporting efforts to reverse the overdose crisis.
She said she looks to former B.C. chief coroners like Vince Cain, who championed treatment over criminal charges for people struggling with addiction, and Larry Campbell, who led the charge for safe consumption sites.
91裸聊视频淚91裸聊视频檓 not by nature a negative person, and I like to be hopeful and I think that91裸聊视频檚 what frustrates me,91裸聊视频� Lapointe said.
91裸聊视频淚 want to be hopeful that we can turn this crisis around and I think it takes courage, and I91裸聊视频檓 ever hopeful our political leaders whether elected or not will at some point recognize (it),91裸聊视频� she said. 91裸聊视频淚t sounds naive, but we need to collaborate if we truly want to reduce the suffering that we91裸聊视频檙e seeing and the deaths we are experiencing.91裸聊视频�
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