Evidence of meeting #119 for Health in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was drugs.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:15 p.m.
Conservative
Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
Do you think it's appropriate that there is easier access to drugs than to treatment?
12:15 p.m.
British Columbia Provincial Health Officer, As an Individual
I don't think those are in competition with each other.
There are things that work together, as we've heard about. We need a suite of things.
People accessing pharmaceutical alternatives.... We know from the data—I refer again to the report I put out; we talked to a lot of people about this—that most of the prescribed alternatives are being used in combination with OAT. That is people being able to get into treatment.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
What is the average wait time for someone to be able to get into detox in British Columbia?
12:20 p.m.
British Columbia Provincial Health Officer, As an Individual
That would vary.
Maybe Dr. Bach would be able to give you more details around that.
It varies. One of the things that—
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
Dr. Bach, if you can answer, that would be great.
12:20 p.m.
Clinical Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia, As an Individual
Certainly. It's going to vary tremendously, depending on needs.
Part of the road to recovery model has been streamlining that access. For people who are deemed high priority, it's 24 to 48 hours. It certainly can be longer for those who....
There's a prioritization process. For anyone who is high risk, like youth or people with a high risk of overdose, it's generally within 48 hours, at least in Vancouver Coastal Health.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
According to the RCMP in British Columbia, nearly two-thirds of the detachment-served communities do not have drug rehabilitation or treatment programs available.
Do you think that's acceptable?
Dr. Henry.
12:20 p.m.
British Columbia Provincial Health Officer, As an Individual
Of course it's not. We want access to treatment programs across the province. We've been working to scale up that access, as with programs that Dr. Bach mentioned, and for people to be able to access them anywhere in the province and have remote support, for example.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
Do you think that decriminalization has been a success in British Columbia so far?
12:20 p.m.
British Columbia Provincial Health Officer, As an Individual
I think parts of it certainly have. With any change in policy like this, there are always unintended issues that come up. We need to be pragmatic and address those.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
Do you think that having a record number of overdose deaths in the first year of a pilot project, having a premier beg the federal government to eliminate public drug use because it's been such a failure, and having people have to climb over needles to get to children's playgrounds is a success?
12:20 p.m.
British Columbia Provincial Health Officer, As an Individual
I'm not sure exactly what you're talking about.
I think we also have to recognize that long-standing personal, social and structural stigma that keeps people silent about their drug use and creates these barriers is not going to go away in a few months or even a year. This is one of a suite of measures that we need to take away some of those barriers that allow people to reach out and connect.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
Thank you.
Were any studies done on the impacts of children seeing open drug use before the legalization project went into play in British Columbia?
12:20 p.m.
British Columbia Provincial Health Officer, As an Individual
I'm not sure what you're referring to. We don't have a legalization project.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
Were any studies of public drug use on children done prior to going into this dangerous pilot project experiment?
12:20 p.m.
British Columbia Provincial Health Officer, As an Individual
I'm not sure what you're referring to, but one of the things that we do know is that there is a perception—
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
Kids are being exposed to people who have overdosed on the street. They're having to climb past needles on playgrounds. Parents are having to sweep the Abbotsford soccer pitch on a daily basis because it is exposed to drugs.
I'm asking if anything was done by the Government of British Columbia to look at the impact of that on the development of our children before embarking on this project. Is it yes or no?
12:20 p.m.
British Columbia Provincial Health Officer, As an Individual
Let's think about this. There are perceptions and stories that we are hearing—
12:20 p.m.
British Columbia Provincial Health Officer, As an Individual
We have not seen any data that there has been increased public drug use before and after decriminalization.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
Parents are contacting me on a regular basis, telling me about how they have to sweep for needles and drug paraphernalia such as crack pipes before they let their children play on community playgrounds.
Do you think that's acceptable, yes or no?
12:20 p.m.
British Columbia Provincial Health Officer, As an Individual
Of course it's not acceptable. We all have concerns about public perceptions and public use, but this has not changed because of decriminalization—