Canada

The fifth estate obtained internal Health Canada reports that reveal the federal government was advised by its own experts to expand access to a greater range of safe and regulated drugs for people across Canada but that instead, at the height of the opioid overdose crisis, the government’s support for safe supply programs was watered down and eventually ended in March.

The internal documents reveal that in 2023 experts told Health Canada to support non-medical safe supply, such as legal and regulated compassion clubs. Months later, two people were arrested and charged with drug trafficking for opening a compassion club that was trying to save lives.

Hydromorphone tablets, also known by the brand name Dilaudid, were cheap to dispense and were already familiar to people who bought street drugs — on the illicit market they are often called “dillies.” The goal of prescribing them wasn’t to get people off drugs and into treatment. It was to keep them alive and away from the toxic street supply.