Madam Speaker, I rise in the House today to follow up on a question I asked the Minister of Health on February 6 with regard to the opioid crisis and how it is affecting my community in profound ways.
Every day, in parts of my community, there is a reminder of just how bad this crisis has become. It is a big-city problem that has moved to small communities. When I look at the work of the RCMP and various front-line service organizations, I see that we are very much at a breaking point.
If we look nationwide, nearly 14,000 people have now died from the opioid crisis. More than 17,000 people have been hospitalized as a result of this mounting crisis. In my own riding, in the 2018-2019 year, we had 26,683 client visits, representing 316 unique individuals. There were 170 overdoses recorded. More than a third of the total unique users were youth who were aged 15 to 24, and of this group, 75% are indigenous and 20% have complex needs.
First responders, overdose prevention facilities and emergency rooms have all endured massive costs, both monetary and emotional, because front-line service workers are experiencing high rates of burnout. This burnout means that we cannot recruit the people who are needed. It was actually nearly four years ago that B.C.'s medical health officer declared a public health emergency.
What I am asking today is that the federal government finally take note of this crisis, declare it a national health emergency and start giving communities like mine the assistance they need.
The other thing we need is for the federal government to take a leadership role and start tackling this crisis with innovative measures, such as decriminalization of possession of small amounts. It is time to stop using the criminal justice system to tackle a social problem and a health problem. We have to stop criminalizing people whose only crime is being addicted to drugs. They do not need the justice system. They do not need jail time. They need social services. They need health services. We need a federal government that is prepared to show the courage to bring in those types of measures.
The stigma associated with criminalization prevents many of these people from getting the help they need. Canada need only look to jurisdictions like Portugal, which in 2001 decriminalized small possession amounts and has shown an amazing turnaround. It has gone from a country that used to have one of the highest overdose death rates in all of Europe to a country with one of the lowest ones, where now people who are addicted to drugs are encouraged to come and get the help they need without fear of retribution from the criminal justice system.
Finally, in closing, another point is that the government has to start getting serious about providing a safe supply of drugs. It is the tainted street supply of drugs that is causing all of this death and destruction, and the longer we ignore this issue, the longer it is going to continue. This is causing huge amounts of damage, not only in the number of deaths but also in the survivors, such as people who have to deal with lifelong brain injuries as a result. Let us think about what the cost will be. It is being borne by families, by members of my community, by small business owners.
I am asking the federal government to take a look at those three things: declaring a national health emergency, decriminalizing small possession amounts, and making sure we have a safe supply so that we take leadership on this crisis and deliver the help that communities like mine actually need.