Hon. Tony Dean: Honourable senators, I rise today to speak in support of Bill S-232, An Act respecting the development of a national strategy for the decriminalization of illegal substances, to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts — also known as the health-centred approach to substance use act.

I start by thanking Senator Boniface for her thoughtful leadership on drug policy in Canada, and specifically on the abuse of opioids, which grows ever more potent and deadly. When I spoke to this bill last year during the previous legislative session, I noted that opioid-related deaths reached a record high in the first year of the pandemic.

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, in 2020, there were 6,500 opioid-related deaths compared to 3,669 deaths in 2019. This represents a 95% increase in opioid deaths during the first year of the pandemic compared to the year before, with an average of 20 deaths per day. Colleagues, the opioid crisis is getting worse.

In 2021, between the months of January and September, there were almost 5,500 deaths. While data is not yet available for the full year, the rate of deaths indicates that the number deaths in 2021 may surpass those in 2020.

Furthermore, a recent report from the British Columbia Coroners Service indicated that 2,224 people died of suspected overdoses in B.C. in 2021. That is the most ever in a recorded year, a 26% increase from 2020.

In their most recent report, the Public Health Agency of Canada notes:

A number of factors may have contributed to a worsening of the overdose crisis over the course of the pandemic, including the increasingly toxic drug supply, increased feelings of isolation, stress and anxiety, and changes in the availability or accessibility of services for people who use drugs.

And colleagues, this epidemic is no longer concentrated in well-known and established drug ghettos in major cities. It is affecting every community — both large and small — including small, rural communities, as we have heard from Senator Richards. Neither is it confined to those living on our streets. It is affecting middle-class families as a result of the abuse of pain medications and, of course, for many other reasons.

No one is immune from this epidemic. No one. It has become a national tragedy that is spiralling out of control — seemingly beyond our ability to catch up with it.

In all of this, colleagues, I’m reminded of the way governments and public policy-makers used to think about the scourge of poverty. It seemed so thorny; it seemed nasty. It seemed to be something that we couldn’t tackle, intractable. We used to refer to this, among other big policy challenges, as a “wicked” policy challenge. So it went on for decades until poverty became too big and too expensive to ignore, and we had to figure out a way to tackle it.

We now know that initiatives such as the Guaranteed Income Supplement have greatly reduced poverty among seniors. The same is true for kids and families. Since the Canada Child Benefit was introduced, the poverty rate for children under 18 fell from 16.4% in 2016 to 9.7% in 2019, the most recent year for which data is available.

Big and nasty problems can be addressed. The wicked issue of opioid addictions and deaths can no longer be ignored. We need a very different approach.

Colleagues, while the opioid crisis continues to take more lives every year, it is not for lack of trying to address the issue. Budget 2022 proposes $100 million over three years, starting in 2022-23, to Health Canada to support harm reduction, treatment and prevention at the community level. This comes on top of $116 million provided in Budget 2021 and $66 million in the Fall Economic Statement 2020. Since 2017, the government has dedicated over $700 million to address the opioid overdose crisis. I repeat: $700 million.

It seems to me that if almost three quarters of a billion dollars has been spent trying to address a crisis that is only getting worse every year, it’s time to try a different approach. Colleagues, Senator Boniface’s bill does just that.

Senator Boniface suggests a comprehensive approach with multiple elements that goes well beyond making naloxone available or the important effort to expand safe injection sites across the country.

As a reminder, Bill S-232 would mandate the Minister of Health to consult with governments at all levels, including representatives of Indigenous peoples, to inform the development of a national strategy for decriminalization of simple possession of illegal substances, including repeal of provisions of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act which relate to these charges.

A national strategy is an appropriate tool for an issue as complex as this crisis, as it would lay the foundation for an integrated approach from governments at all levels as well as the police, health care providers and other key stakeholders.

The strategy would require establishing a framework for decriminalization and additional treatment programs and support services, ensuring that there are public health measures in place to support decriminalization. It assumes that nothing less than an integrated and concerted federal, provincial and territorial strategy will overcome the challenge of opioid addictions.

Following these steps, the Minister of Health would have to prepare a report setting out a national strategy, cause that report to be laid before each House of Parliament two years after the act receives Royal Assent and then post the report on the departmental website within 10 days after the day on which it is tabled in Parliament.

That sounds like a plan. Doesn’t it, colleagues? We desperately need a plan, and we need it quickly.

If I can add anything to this approach, colleagues, it is that sophisticated efforts to tackle harms — be they in the world of regulation, as they affect vulnerable people, disease, poverty or a myriad of other harms affecting our populations — require moving upstream to look at both the causes and early indicators or fault lines that are both predictors and causes of harms, some of the more obvious in this case being prescribing practices in the health care system, mental health challenges and the various forms of abuse.

Why is decriminalization an effective tool? B.C.’s Mental Health and Addictions Minister Sheila Malcolmson stated that decriminalizing small amounts of drugs would help to reduce the stigma associated with them.

The BC Coroners Service report found that between January 2019 and January 2022 more than half of opioid overdoses resulting in death happened at home, indicating that there are still significant shame and stigma associated with drug addiction. Individuals struggling with addiction may be reluctant to seek help because of this.

Colleagues, decriminalizing small amounts of illicit substances would ensure that these individuals would not be penalized for their addiction, but that they would be recommended for treatment services.

Minister Malcolmson said:

It’s never going to be decriminalization alone. That alone will not save lives. But if we have the health-care supports for people to turn to, they don’t feel the shame and stigma about drug use. They’re willing to talk to their primary health care provider.

Some municipalities and provinces have already started to move in this direction. In May 2021, the City of Vancouver requested an exemption to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to decriminalize possession of small amounts of drugs, including cocaine, heroin and fentanyl. B.C. then made a province-wide request in November 2021. The City of Toronto followed in January 2022, and just a few weeks ago so did the City of Edmonton.

Colleagues, there are a broad range of actors telling us we need to get this done, including the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, who tell us that they:

. . . agree that evidence suggests, and numerous Canadian health leaders support, decriminalization for simple possession as an effective way to reduce the public health and public safety harms associated with substance use . . . .

In their July 2020 report, they concluded that decriminalization should be a key component in responding to the opioid crisis in concert with a number of other policy tools already being implemented across the country, including safe injection sites, safe supply and treatment programs.

The report states:

In a decriminalized environment, frontline policing would likely assume increased responsibility to divert people suffering from substance use disorder into treatment.

A national framework would ensure that there are treatment programs and other supports set up prior to decriminalization to alleviate the burden on police services.

The British Columbia Association of Chiefs of Police also released a report after the province announced it would be seeking an exemption for decriminalization of small amounts of illicit substances. In the report they expressed their support for the policy.

The report states:

The BCACP supports decriminalization of personal amounts of illicit drugs as part of an integrated approach to divert persons who use drugs (PWUD) away from the criminal justice system and toward health services and pathways of care with the goal of improving health and safety outcomes for those individuals.

Colleagues, this is a massive and deadly crisis. It is affecting all communities, large and small, and it is continuing to grow.

Senator Boniface’s bill recognizes both the scale and the complexity of the issues associated with the opioid crisis. Most importantly, it’s a framework piece of legislation that sets out the key goals while prompting the government to pursue a variety of strategies. It recognizes and acknowledges that there is no one-size-fits-all solution, and it is appreciative of the fact that this is not going to be resolved quickly or easily, but that it can be addressed.

That is why I am supporting Senator Boniface’s bill. It acknowledges the complexity of the issue and would establish a framework for a multifaceted, thoughtful range of approaches to a massive problem that we’re not addressing right now.

Honourable senators, with government, law enforcement, health practitioners and a large portion of the general public supporting decriminalization as one of a suite of approaches to the opioid crisis, we should listen and we should follow their advice. Thank you, Senator Boniface, for your leadership. Honourable senators, let’s move Senator Boniface’s bill to committee. Thank you.

(On motion of Senator Duncan, debate adjourned.)

[Translation]

On the Order:

Resuming debate on the motion of the Honourable Senator Galvez, seconded by the Honourable Senator Gignac, for the second reading of Bill S-243, An Act to enact the Climate-Aligned Finance Act and to make related amendments to other Acts.