Ottawa, ON – Laila Goodridge, Conservative Shadow Minister for Addictions, and Dr. Stephen Ellis, Conservative Shadow Minister for Health, released the following statement on the one-year anniversary of the Trudeau Government’s decision to decriminalize hard drugs in British Columbia:  

“A year has passed since the Liberal-NDP coalition decriminalized dangerous drugs in British Columbia. The results of this reckless experiment show that it has been an abject failure with drug overdose deaths in BC having hit a record high of 2511. While more Canadians die, the street cost of dangerous drugs have fallen by 70 to 95 percent. Drugs are now the leading cause of death in BC, causing more fatalities than crime, accidents and disease combined. 

“Despite this, the Liberal-NDP coalition continues to make this crisis worse. Just a few weeks ago, the BC NDP government, enabled by Justin Trudeau’s Liberals, contracted the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU) to have clinicians prescribe dangerous fentanyl to minors under the guise of so-called ‘safe supply.’ Worse still, these vulnerable children can be given these dangerous drugs without their parents being informed. Meanwhile, there continues to be no credible evidence in support of this insistence on providing tax-funded hard drugs to Canadians suffering from addiction, especially children. 

“As a direct result of Liberal-NDP policies, overdoses and fatalities continue to spiral out of control. And as this crisis worsens, they disregard and deprioritize treatment and recovery.”

“Common sense Conservatives will not give up on Canadians suffering from addiction. A Poilievre Government will bring home our loved ones drug free by giving them access to treatment and recovery, not more taxpayer-funded deadly drugs. Recovery is possible.”