B.C.'s Health Minister Josie Osborne Wednesday announced additional safeguards to the government's prescribed pharmaceutical-alternatives program, effective immediately.

Also known as safe supply, the program was introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic as a response to the opioid crisis. Osborne said B.C. will be moving to what she called a witness-only model to ensure that prescribed alternatives are used safely and effectively. 

"These medications will be taken under the supervision of a health-care worker and that includes hydromorphone (the most commonly used prescribed alternative)," Osborne said. "This helps guarantee that the patient receives care in a safe, supportive environment and significantly reduces the likelihood of diversion." 

Osborne made the announcement with B.C.'s Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Garry Begg in Victoria Wednesday (Feb. 19), adding that the change will apply to new and existing participants with a transition period for existing participants. 

"I do recognize this is a significant change for patients and clinicians," she said. She also promised additional changes to the fee structure for dispensing prescribed alternatives to avoid financial incentives for what she called "bad actors."  

Osborne said the decision came after consulting with health officers, but not with B.C.'s top doctor, Bonnie Henry. 

The development comes after the Conservative Party of B.C. released a Ministry of Health presentation titled the State of PharmaCare given to 250 RCMP officers. The party said last month the presentation confirms a "worst-case scenario" about pharmaceutical alternatives to opioids being "trafficked provincially, nationally and internationally," as per the report. 

"A significant portion of the opioids being freely prescribed by doctors and pharmacists are not being consumed by their intended recipients," it reads. 

Long-time critics of the government's approach toward the opioid crisis such as Conservative Elenore Sturko, MLA for Surrey-Cloverdale, cited the report as evidence that government deliberately downplayed the issue of diversion. 

Sturko, who watched Osborne's announcement and later shook her hand as a thank-you, said she is grateful that government has taken the steps, but questioned why it took so long.

"They have heard from doctors, they have heard from parents and families for years, who have been begging them to take this action." 

Sturko said government would not have taken the actions it took today, if it had not been for the document. She deemed the actions insufficient and repeated her calls for a public inquiry.

"(We) are not going to stop asking questions until we get one," Sturko said. "This was a policy that was really ill-thought out. It should have had safety guidelines put in place from the outset....this is something they should have done before unleashing this monster onto British Columbia."

On Wednesday, Osborne appeared cool to the idea of a public inquiry. She said it was through the investigation launched last summer that new information has come forward.

"As information comes to light, we learn more, we know more," she said. "That is why it's incumbent on us to take actions like I'm announcing today, to make sure that we are strengthening the prescribed alternatives policy program and to make sure people have the faith and confidence and trust in that system."

Osborne earlier this month confirmed the authenticity of the presentation, as well as the fact that government has launched an investigation into the role of pharmacies. The presentation alleges that more than 60 pharmacies 91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ” about five per cent of all pharmacies in B.C. 91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ” might have been involved in the diversion, according to the investigation underway since June 2024. 

She said that presentation existed because of the work that her government has doing with partners, including police and the College of Pharmacists of B.C., to assess and address the problem.

"This work includes investigating allegations about actions at specific pharmacies and you will see further action from my ministry to prevent diversion," she said at the time.

Osborne rejected suggestions the changes amount to a concession  the entire system had to be overhauled.

She acknowledged a witness-only model will be a difficult change for some, requiring work clinicians and care providers to ensure a transition.

"But it is an important part of that work to balance the need to care for and legally save lives by using prescribed alternatives that prevent having those people who are at the highest risk of drug overdose from having to use illicit street drugs and ensuring that these drugs are not being diverted and that they are not going in the wrong hands." 

She said earlier that investigations have already led to the revoking and suspension of pharmacy licences thanks to the actions of the College of Pharmacists. She did not give a number of how many licences were revoked or suspended. 

"The college has a responsibility to ensure their members are adhering to the procedures and standards set out by the college, and these enforcement actions will continue," she said. Osborne added Wednesday that police are also involved in crackdown on pharmacies that have allegedly been engaging in illegal activities. 

"We cannot tolerate and we will not tolerate bad actors exploiting the health care system and putting people at risk," Osborne said. "Simply, it is put and we are taking actions to stop it." 

Sturko did not buy that argument.

"This isn't a pharmacy-based problem," she said. "It (safe supply) is a terrible policy that allowed for this exploitation by bad actor to take place. But the real bad actors are those that ignored years of evidence that this was causing harm, downplaying it, denying it to the detriment or our province, fuelling addiction, fuelling the fentanyl trade and putting money into the hands of criminals."