Feds ease rules on supervised drug injection sites, mail inspections at border
Posted Dec 12, 2016 07:02:16 PM.
Last Updated Dec 13, 2016 06:00:49 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA – Health Minister Jane Philpott has unveiled proposed new measures that would open the door to more supervised drug injection sites in Canada.
Her legislation would, if passed, eliminate 26 strict requirements for new “consumption” sites put in place by the previous Conservative government.
Philpott calls the current fentanyl crisis a national issue and notes that in places like downtown Vancouver — which is on the front line of the fentanyl problem — people are dying every day.
There are currently two drug injection sites in Canada — both of them in Vancouver — and Philpott says a number of applications for sites are currently under review.
Bill C-37 would also place new restrictions on the import of pill presses and encapsulators, two machines commonly used to make illicit drugs.
It would also lift a restriction that prevents border guards from inspecting packages under 30 grams in weight.
NDP justice critic Murray Rankin, who represents the riding of Victoria, said he’s pleased to see the new changes — but disappointed it has taken more than a year since the Liberals took power for them to come to the fore.
In B-C alone, officials say there have been 622 drug overdose deaths between January and October, about 60 per cent of them involve fentanyl.
