More safe supply restrictions in BC!

Watch: https://youtu.be/-bJVRZdJurQ?si=P24rLfKFlpUKFNeI

December 3 , 2025 CBC News

Transcript: The province is moving to further restrict the safe supply program.

Josie Osborne, BC Health Minister: "We are helping to separate people from the elicit drug supply through prescribed alternatives program. At the same time, we know it's so important to make sure that these medications only land in the hands of those people for whom they are intended."

As of December 30th, all patients who rely on prescription opioids such as hydromorphone (Dilaudid) or fentanyl patches will have to take those drugs under the supervision of a pharmacist or health professional. Key exceptions include some in rural communities and people who can show that their work schedule does not allow them to go to a pharmacy several times a day.

The move to witnessed safe supply was announced in February and initially only applied to new patients. It came in response to evidence that prescription opioids were not being consumed by the intended patients, but instead being diverted and trafficked. But one Victoria based addictions doctor says the changes make it harder to access safer alternatives and risk pushing people back to potentially deadly street drugs.

Dr. Ryan Herriot, Addictions medicine doctor: "This is really egregious political interference in medical decision-making. It doesn't really support recovery. It doesn't really support people getting on with their lives you know being basically chained to a pharmacy all day long."

BC conservative addictions critic who herself battled addiction for years until going to treatment at 19 says the government's safe supply program keeps people in the cycle of addiction.

Claire Rattée, BC Conservative critic for mental health and addictions: If if the government was going to pay for my drugs and provide them to me for free, I probably wouldn't be standing before you right now."

The program was rolled out in March 2020 during the height of the pandemic. The government changed course earlier this year after leaked Ministry of Health slides showed that a significant portion of the opioids and fentanyl patches handed out by doctors and pharmacists are not going to those who need them and instead being trafficked nationally and internationally.

Osborne says the health ministry continues to investigate the dozens of bad actors. Those pharmacies were alleged to be offering incentives to entice clients to get their safe supply drugs from them.

Katie D. Rosa,

CBC News, Victoria.

Rebuttal by Gerald Kichok, Addiction Peer Counsellor:  

Expecting people already struggling with addiction to travel repeatedly to pharmacies, even for those living in safe housing with meals provided is unrealistic. Individuals on strong opioids often have low physical and emotional capacity for travel, even when housed. Expecting homeless individuals, who must stand in line for every meal and have no safe place to be between pharmacy visits, to make multiple trips every day is cruel.

If safe-supply dispensaries were also provided food, counsellors, advocates, showers, social space, and community, I would fully support the directive. Facilities like the Coast Resource Centre at 1225 Seymour St, Vancouver, BC V6B 7B6 or The Gathering Place Community Centre at 609 Helmcken St, Vancouver, BC V6B 5R1 already offer these essential supports. A safe community space is the single most powerful factor that improves lives, far more than just medication access.

My time at the Coast Resource Centre while on daily witness was transformative for my recovery. What made it work was the community and support, not the pharmacy visits. In contrast, waiting every day at a pharmacy for my medication was the low point. I often waited up to 30 minutes, treated as less than a customer, and missed the noon meals, my only meal, at Coast because of pharmacy delays.

There is far more to beating addiction than simply providing safer supply.

When people on daily witnessed doses choose to sell some or all of their medication, they are doing so for reasons most outsiders will never understand:

• rent

• food

• helping family

• preferring a different opioid

• or simply surviving another day

Some people still choose “down” (fentanyl + benzodiazepine / vet tranquilizer mixtures) despite the danger. When they have nothing to sell, their risk of turning to crime increases. It may not be right, but for many who have lost everything, it becomes their only perceived option.

Medication alone does not solve addiction. Community, stability, dignity, and safe spaces help.