According to Vancouver mayor Kennedy Stewart, Justin Trudeau is open to the idea of having the federal government fund the supply of heroin to junkies in Vancouver.
Trudeau spent the day meeting with the mayors of Vancouver and Calgary, where he reportedly spoke about his openness to use taxpayer dollars to buy dangerous drugs.
Vancouver has applied for federal funding to the tune of $6 million dollars so the city can distribute clinical-grade heroin to opioid addicts. Stewart hopes that Health Canada will exempt the municipality from federal drug laws so that they can deal with the drug legally.
“We call upon health professionals, all levels of governments, and the public to join us in advocating for a safe supply of drugs,” wrote the city’s Safe Supply Statement.
British Columbia has been the hardest hit province in the nation-wide opioid crisis. In the city of Vancouver alone, over 3,600 people have died from overdoses since the B.C. government declared a public health emergency in 2016.
“(Trudeau said) that he wants to work together … and open to having a conversation and then looking to us to lead, with healthcare professionals, to try and figure out the best solutions to these problems. So I’m very encouraged by that and grateful,” said Stewart.
Stewart also stated that he was pleased with the fact that Liberal MP Patty Hajdu was promoted to the position of health minister due to her advocacy on the issue.
Vancouver was the first city in Canada to open so-called “safe injection sites” in the early 2000s, so that addicts could have access to clean needles to inject their drug of choice.
According to Mayor Kennedy, on average one person dies every single day in Vancouver from drug overdoses.
