Mr. Speaker, I would like to table this petition on behalf of hundreds of British Columbians from Courtenay and Cumberland in light of the over 10,000 preventable opioid overdose deaths as a result of fentanyl-poisoned sources.
The petitioners are calling on the government to declare the current opioid overdose and fentanyl poisoning crisis a national public health emergency under the Emergencies Act in order to manage and resource it with the aim of reducing and eliminating preventable deaths.
They are also calling for a reform of current drug policy to decriminalize personal possession and to create, with urgency and immediacy, a system to provide safe, unadulterated access to substances so that people who use substances experimentally, recreationally or chronically are not at imminent risk of overdose from a contaminated source.
The petitioners cite that the war on drugs has failed. They are calling on the government to take immediate action and to take away the stigma in this important national health emergency.