(LifeSiteNews) — The Conservative Party of British Columbia, which serves as the official opposition, demanded that Premier David Eby of the New Democratic Party act swiftly after it was alleged that a large amount of so-called “safe supply” drugs have been falling into the wrong hands to be illegally sold.
According to a leaked Ministry of Health audit presentation, drugs that were supposed to go toward the province’s “safe supply” program instead ended up being trafficked not only in the province but across Canada as well as internationally.
As a result, Elenore Sturko, a Conservative Surrey South MLA, solicitor general and public safety critic, called on Eby to not only launch a public inquiry into the matter but fire Dr. Bonnie Henry, the province’s top health boss.
The leaked document, which the BC Conservative caucus was able to obtain, shows that both doctors and pharmacists prescribed 22,418,000 doses of addictive opioids to some 5,000 patients. This amounts to an average of 4,483 per person, well above normal.
The drug Hydromorphone accounted for about 19 percent of prescriptions and fentanyl patches made up 13 percent of the drugs given out, with oxycodone, dextroamphetamine sulfate, and morphine sulfate being less prescribed.
According to the documents, a “significant portion” of the additive drugs were “not being consumed by their intended recipients” but instead were “prescribed alternatives are trafficked provincially, nationally and internationally.”
The leaked presentation also showed that dozens of pharmacies in the province gave out incentives to patients to get their drug fix with them, so that they could rack up the bills charged to the province. In some cases, a loophole was exploited to allow up to $11,000 worth of drugs per patient be given out per year.
British Columbia Health Minister Josie Osborne confirmed, as per the Vancouver Sun, that her department was aware of the serious allegations made against the “safe supply” program, saying that there is “no denying” it happened and that “there should be no acceptance of it.”
“That’s why we’re taking the actions that we are,” she added.
As for the BC Conservatives, the party demanded in a statement that the government act on the allegations.
“British Columbia was singled out as a source of illegal opioid trafficking by the American president,” Sturko said.
“Canada now has a 30-day reprieve from U.S. tariffs to address border security and drug trafficking. David Eby must immediately stop his taxpayer-funded drug trafficking that is fueling fentanyl use, killing people, and enriching organised crime,” she added.
Sturko noted how the NDP government “is responsible for fueling addiction, deaths, enriching organised crime, and facilitating international drug trafficking.”
“While opposition members were raising concerns about diverted ‘safe supply,’ Bonnie Henry was calling for its expansion, and for drugs like fentanyl, crack cocaine, and meth to be legalized and sold in retail stores,” she noted.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s loose drug initiatives were deemed such a disaster in British Columbia that the Eby government asked Trudeau to re-criminalize narcotic use in public spaces, a request that was granted.
According to British Columbia’s official data from 2023, the year the Trudeau government first decriminalized hard drug use, the province saw “the largest number of drug-related deaths ever reported to the agency,” hitting a tragic total of 2,511.
The effects of decriminalizing hard drugs in various parts of Canada have been exposed by certain media outlets. Two documentaries, Aaron Gunn’s Canada is Dying and U.K. Telegraph journalist Steven Edginton’s mini-documentary Canada’s Woke Nightmare: A Warning to the West, detail the grim reality of the drug crisis, particularly in British Columbia.