It's a shocking, unethical and false allegation. When you cast aspersions in a setting like this, where you're protected from criminal and civil liability, and you don't give anyone you're making allegations against an opportunity to respond, it's a very dangerous combination. I recently watched a podcast on McCarthyism, and it reminds me of that, if you're going to start casting aspersions about people.
There's a process and a way for the committee to explore any of those concerns it wants. If it wants to go down that road, which I don't think is necessary, it should be giving those people a chance to respond.
There is a widespread consensus across different groups of people who work on this issue, including addictions experts, that we need to address the root cause, which is this unregulated drug supply.
You mentioned the BC Coroners Service. I would encourage the committee to not just take that title, but when you look at the report that is the basis for the BC Coroners Service's recommendation for regulated alternatives...I haven't even counted, but there are between 12 and 18 listed experts who all work in this field, including addictions experts and physicians.
It's one thing to say someone disagrees, but to try to suggest that there's something else there is false, misleading and unethical.
Ultimately, in closing, I would urge the committee to please focus on the main concern here. You're studying why this is the leading cause of unnatural death for Canadians, and it's going to continue to go for a long time, unless we begin to address the root causes of it, do the emergency response now and build the holistic supports around housing, addressing childhood trauma, prevention and all of that.
We need to deal with the crisis we have urgently.