The federal government released the first findings in March of 10 programs in British Columbia, Ontario and New Brunswick, showing that there were a number of benefits to participants.
Participants and staff reported significant changes in substance use, including reduced risk of overdose and reduced use of street drugs.
Participants also said they were less stressed and had more stability, freeing up time to find and keep a job.
Gillian Kolla, a researcher at the Canadian Institute for Substance Abuse Research at the University of Victoria, said the assessment focused on participants’ lives and that it also provided space for the challenges they faced.
“I think these challenges can really help a lot in informing the development of these programs as they are seen as a possible response to the overdose crisis in Canada,” said Kolla, who also wrote the review for London.  Safer opioid supply program of the Inter-Community Health Center.
But Hugh Lambkin, a member of the Vancouver Area Drug Users Network and supervisor of the agency’s injection room, said his experience of accessing one of the pilot programs was not positive.
The program required participants to come once or twice a day to receive medication, which he said did not make sense.
“You put a chain on your feet, you can not go anywhere. No school, work, it all hurts because you have to get in,” he said.
Lambkin also denies that the initial findings are “very careful, everything is perfect, everything” everyone loves it “.
“There is no criticism or bad thing being printed here. That must be quite suspicious,” he said.  “It is impossible for the government to come up with a program and the people in the program to have no criticism.”
Corey Ranger is a registered nurse and clinical supervisor for the Victoria Safer Initiative, another secure supply project.  He said the benefits highlighted in the federal report are consistent with what he has seen in his own program.
Kolla said the programs are small and have very limited capacity to prescribe a safe supply of drugs, often with only one prescriber or organization for an entire city.
“This is nowhere near meeting the needs or capacity at the moment for this type of intervention,” he said, noting that existing programs are already operating at near power.
Ranger wants to see a number of other models available for secure supply, including compassionate clubs, which deliver clean, proven drugs to their members.
“We need to see an urgent upgrade, because while many benefit from working in a medical model, even more do not need access to a doctor, they just need access to safe and controlled drugs,” he said.
However, he said there is a lack of political will to explore untreated models such as compassion clubs.
“And it will really take a little courage from the decision-makers to get there, and we have not seen that courage,” he said.
Lambkin said it is vital that people who use drugs are involved in creating these programs.
“If you want it to work, you will have the people it addresses on the ground floor, not the fifth,” he said.
Otherwise, Lampkin said, the process is not designed to encourage people to use programs or distribute substances in ways that work for users.
“That’s where our know-how comes from.”
Successful secure supply schemes prioritize the goals of those who have access to them rather than focusing on the experiences of doctors or prescribers, said Ranger, who also developed a list of safer procurement based on feedback from users. drugs.
In March, the federal government provided $ 3.5 million in funding to extend four of the 20 pilots to secure supplies, according to a statement.
Mental Health and Addiction Secretary Carolyn Bennett said in a statement Friday that the government is committed to developing a strategy to address substance abuse-related harms, address toxic drug delivery, and improve access to safer supplies.
Health Canada is working with civil society organizations, emergency care providers, researchers and experienced people to inform the government about reducing overdoses and deaths and improving the well-being of drug users, he said.
Bennett did not answer directly when asked if the government plans to escalate existing secure supply pilots, but said the government has invested more than $ 60 million in funding for safer supply projects.  He added that more needs to be done and the government will “continue to use every tool at our disposal” to end the national public health crisis.
Kolla said much more action was needed to fully respond to the opioid crisis.
“I think we really need to address the way in which the stigma of drug use and the people who use drugs make it so difficult to make any progress in order to have a comprehensive answer,” he said.
“People are dying because of an incredibly toxic supply of drugs from the supply of street drugs.  “This has been happening for over six years now, and we have seen such a slow response.”
This Canadian Press report was first published on March 26, 2022. 
—
This story was created with the financial support of Meta and the Canadian Press News Fellowship.