Thank you very much for the question, Mr. Chair. I'll do my best in this brief moment to explain the full strategy in concrete terms.
As the minister said in her remarks, the focus of the government's response to the crisis over several years now has been to try to be as comprehensive as possible. That means moving forward a series of measures and initiatives to prevent drug use from occurring in the first place. Dr. Weiss referred to some of those initiatives. There are many others focused on the so-called upstream end of the spectrum, where we're looking to delay or prevent initiation from occurring in the first place.
There are also a number of initiatives targeted at reducing stigma. Some of the members of this committee have made reference to stigma and just how much of a barrier the stigmatizing nature of having a drug problem is with respect to integrating into all aspects of our society, including being able to access care. There are a number of initiatives focused on reducing stigma. The exemption provided to B.C. is one example of that, but there are others.
There's a lot of conversation around harm reduction. The conversation around prescribed alternatives is clearly one that is top of mind for this committee and many Canadians. That intervention and other harm reduction interventions are in place as life-saving, acute interventions in response to the problem we're seeing play out in Canadian communities right now, which is that the drug supply in Canada is 80% fentanyl and is increasingly adulterated by other substances, which makes the risk of using drugs extraordinarily high. That's why people are dying.
Then beyond that, we have treatment interventions and enforcement.
Thank you.