Alberta premier calls out BC for "safe supply" drug seizure
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is calling for an emergency meeting with officials in BC after a massive drug seizure by RCMP reportedly contained some prescription opioids from “safe supply” programs.
The drug seizure, which occurred yesterday in Prince George, resulted in the seizure of more than 10,000 individual pills and included morphine and hydromorphone (also known as dilaudid), which RCMP stated are safe supply prescription drugs.
“We have noted an alarming trend over the last year in the amount prescription drugs located during drug trafficking investigations, noting they are being used as a form of currency to purchase more potent, illicit street drugs,” Cpl. Jennifer Cooper, media relations officer for the Prince George RCMP said in a news release.
Premier Smith issued a statement regarding the drug seizure Friday morning saying: “Alberta has been warning for years that diversion of high-potency opioids from these programs could be diverted and trafficked across Canada, potentially causing irreparable harm and death in communities across the country,” adding that Alberta has made the provision of “safe supply” illegal to “prevent this very thing from happening.”
“Unfortunately, that does not stop organized criminals from bringing it here illegally from other provinces,” Smith commented.
With concerns of the diversion of said drugs and the chance of them ending up for resale in Alberta, Smith says she has asked Deputy Premier and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis, and Minister of Mental Health and Addiction Dan Williams, to request an emergency meeting with their counterparts in British Columbia to “stop the flow of these high-potency opioids to Alberta.”
Back in 2021, BC was the first province in Canada to introduce its new prescribed safer supply policy, which was brought in for people who use drugs and who are at high risk of dying from the toxic illicit drug supply to be able to access alternatives covered by Pharmacare, including a range of opioids and stimulants as determined by programs and prescribers.
Unregulated toxic drugs were the leading cause of death in BC for residents between 10 and 59 years old in 2023, claiming more than 2,500 lives across the province.
The BC Coroners Service maintains that prescribed safer supply is not contributing to unregulated drug deaths.
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