More groups abandon government safe supply committee citing pre-meditated outcome

A committee working to bring safe drug supply to Alberta, and to address the drug toxicity crisis on our streets, is being criticized and abandoned by several advocates and organizations.

They say the process is deeply flawed and the outcomes have already been decided.

“They listed their experts which included people out of the U.S. who have theories that are about 20 years old and it didn’t include a single person who does research on safe supply, who receive safe supply, or a single person who practises in a safe supply program,” said Petra Schulz, the co-found of Moms Stop the Harm.

Alberta’s Safe supply committee was initially made up of MLAs from both the NDP and UCP.

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All four members of the NDP dropped out in early February. They said the committee was rigged coming after years of pushback from the UCP to implement safe supply programs in the province.

“When you’re making important policy decisions that affect a group that is already affected by the current policy in a negative way, it becomes problematic when the process isn’t transparent and rigorous and scientifically defensible,” said Ginetta Salvalaggio, co-chair of the Edmonton zone medical staff association opioid poisoning committee.

She says there is a loss of faith in this process.

“We’re not sure that the conclusions will be balanced, unfortunately.”

The British Columbia Centre on Substance Use declined to comment, saying they felt key people were missing. People with lived experience, substance use, families impacted, clinicians prescribing safe supply. The BCCSU has played a key role in implementing safe supply in BC.

Minister for Mental Health and Addictions Mike Ellis issued a statement to CityNews saying:

“Actual experts on this issue are united in their stance that there is no evidence to support this policy and providing these drugs to addicts is extremely dangerous to the community. They said the NDP dropped out as a ‘political stunt.’”

Petra Schulz also withdrew her support which she says wasn’t easy. After losing her son to a fentanyl overdose in 2014.

“For those of us who have lost loved ones, for those of us who tried to keep loved ones alive, this is so heartbreaking to see that we know what the solutions are and they’re just not being implemented and we have this government who is doing everything in its power to make it worse.”