Trudeau is not committing more funding, resources to fight opioid crisis
Posted March 3, 2017 11:54 am.
Last Updated March 3, 2017 12:47 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The prime minister isn’t going into specifics of when any federal funding will turn into resources on the front-lines to help provinces, like BC, deal with the ongoing opioid overdose crisis.
This morning, Justin Trudeau was in Vancouver to meet with first responders and health care workers to get a first-hand idea of just how bad the epidemic is and how hard it’s hitting BC.
After the meeting he addressed reporters and was asked why the federal government won’t declare a national health crisis. Trudeau says Ottawa is already opening the doors to more resources to help with the situation, however, he wouldn’t give exact details about adding more money. He adds the opioid crisis is an important issue and it should be addressed.
“We’re committed to acting in close collaboration over the coming months and years to provide real, lasting support to affected communities. Both help in the short-term and a path forward to get through and beyond this terrible crisis.”
Meantime, a local advocate is calling on Ottawa to change its tune and declare a public health emergency. “The hospitals are filled with people right now, the morgue is full. We can’t say enough that this is a national health crisis. He needs to call it what it is, a national health crisis,” argues Sarah Blyth who works on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
She says she has watched as people have died across the province as result of fatal overdoses. Blyth is urging opioid prescriptions be made available to addicts that are using dangerous street drugs. “There hasn’t been a national health crisis like this ever, or in a very long time. We need people to prescribe opiates for folks that are using drugs from the streets that are killing them as an alternative to going to dealers, and we need that tomorrow.”
Last month the provincial and federal governments signed a health agreement that includes a three per cent increase in federal funding and a 10-year, $1.4 billion agreement to fund mental-health and home-care initiatives.
Last year the BC Coroners Service says more than 900 people died due to illicit drug overdoses.
