B.C. ends take-home safer supply for drug users to stop diversion – CBC
Feb 19, 2025
People who rely on prescription opioids such as hydromorphone must now take those safer supply drugs under the supervision of a pharmacist, in a major about-face by the provincial government announced Wednesday by B.C.’s health minister.
“We’ve heard concerns about these medications being diverted and ending up in the wrong hands,” Josie Osborne said.
The change will happen immediately.
It’s something B.C. Conservative MLA Elenore Sturko says should have happened a long time ago, as a measure to prevent the diversion of prescription opioids which have ended up in the hands of organized criminals and been used as a form of currency on the street.
“I’ve been calling for this for years,” Sturko told reporters, pointing out she first grilled the government about the problem of drug diversion during question period in February 2023.
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/take-home-supply-drug-ending-1.7463197
