Thank you.
I want to move to the issue of opioids, because you made a reference to it. Minister, in British Columbia overdose deaths spiked again in March, reaching the province's second-highest monthly total to date, according to the B.C. Coroners Service. That is the second-highest month on record, second only to December 2016. We also know that last year over 4,000 Canadians lost their lives. Some estimate that we're on track to exceed that, with maybe as many as 6,000 Canadians dying from overdoses this year.
At the Liberal Party's convention in Halifax this year, your party's grassroots voted overwhelmingly in favour of decriminalization and medical regulation as a means of responding to drug overdose deaths. In response, a coalition of 200 organizations, researchers, policy experts, including former Liberal leader Bob Rae, and others impacted by the opioid crisis, wrote your government an open letter urging you to “be the progressive government you promised to be, choosing human rights and evidence-based policy over ideological relics.”
The letter went on to say:
We need you to listen to our voices as we call for the essential next step: decriminalization. The example of Portugal and other European countries illustrates that this policy works.
We ask you to prevent thousands of more unnecessary deaths by supporting this resolution.
However, you and the Prime Minister have both responded unequivocally, ruling out acting on that resolution.
Minister, given the severity of the opioid crisis, and given that we expect as many or more deaths this year as any other, why won't your government even consider the evidence-based proposal of decriminalization and medical regulation of drugs?