Dr. Lori Regenstreif warns: No other country would hand bottles of opioids to addicts ‘with the assumption that this will solve their risk of overdose death’
May 29, 2025
Dr. Lori Regenstreif warns: No other country would hand bottles of opioids to addicts ‘with the assumption that this will solve their risk of overdose death’
OTTAWA — A scathing new study by a Canadian addictions physician concludes that ideologically driven “social justice” governments have worsened the country’s fentanyl crisis by aggressively funding and promoting so-called “safer supply” programs—despite a lack of evidence they save lives. Instead, as mounting proof showed that thousands of government-distributed opioid tablets—as potent as heroin—were being diverted into the black market by organized crime, Health Canada, public health officials, and sympathetic media outlets continued to defend the controversial programs and attack critics.
Even as violent incidents emerged—including a shooting outside a Toronto safer supply clinic—the study notes that some advocates called for medical professionals to be removed from program oversight entirely.
In a paper published by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, Dr. Lori Regenstreif, a veteran addictions physician, argues that Canada’s “safe supply” programs—widely expanded after 2019—have not only failed to reduce overdose deaths, but have coincided with a steep rise in fatalities. The number of opioid-related deaths in Canada surged from 3,023 in 2016 to more than 7,300 by 2021, despite increased distribution of government-supplied hydromorphone tablets. Regenstreif warns that the policy, intended as harm reduction, has morphed into a dangerous social justice experiment, sidelining evidence-based treatments like methadone and buprenorphine in favour of unproven, unsupervised opioid dispensing.
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