No minimum age listed in protocols for providing youth with taxpayer-funded recreational fentanyl
by Adam Zivo
January 11, 2024
In what constitutes a clear trampling of parental rights, British Columbia recently authorized the provision of “safer supply” fentanyl to youth across the province, regardless if parents are informed of, or agree to, this measure.
The provincial government has provided limited access to safer supply fentanyl since at least 2020, primarily through small-scale pilot projects. However, last August the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU), an influential research organization, published protocols permitting doctors and nurses to prescribe “safe” fentanyl tablets to adults and minors. The organization confirmed to me in an email that it had been contracted by the province to produce these documents “to further support clinicians prescribing safer supply across the province.”
While the B.C. government generally promotes its commitment to safer supply, it was oddly silent in this instance. I became aware of the new protocols only because two concerned addiction physicians contacted me shortly after their publication.
As there has been zero media coverage of this development — excluding a report I authored for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI), published last month — the provincial government has been able to ramp up the distribution of “safe” fentanyl with almost no public scrutiny.
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