Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister, for being here, and especially to your team and all of the people on the front lines of this crisis.
Minister, you read the article, I'm sure, in the Globe and Mail. It was a new research report that was released to the public and it cited that British Columbians who were at risk of death related to illicit opioid use were 61% less likely to die from any cause in the following week if prescribed at least one day's supply of a pharmaceutical alternative.
This research also stated that if they received four or more days of safer supply in one week, the rate of any cause of death was lowered by 91% in the next week and death from overdose was reduced by 89%.
In British Columbia, there are 4,265 people on a safer supply pharmaceutical drug alternative. That's only 1.8% of the 225,000 daily users of illicit substances and toxic drugs; the other 98.2% are relying on the organized crime and street toxic drug supply to meet their needs.
Minister, the scientific evidence demonstrates that the life-saving impacts of safer supply clearly are critical. I'm concerned that your policies have not been created based on evidence, because if you went on the evidence, you wouldn't take an incremental approach: You'd be scaling things up.
I'm concerned about the fearmongering that's coming from Conservatives and also the hesitancy to extend funding for the 21 safer supply programs that are providing effective care right now to thousands of people. My understanding is that cutting the funding to these programs is dooming about 30% of federally funded safer supply program clients to their death within six months of ending those programs.
Minister, what will you say to those families in six months if SUAP funding for safer supply programs is not renewed?