On Parliament Hill

How does the Liberal Government propose treating those dealing with opioid addiction? How about heroin?

This past week, Federal Health Minister, Jane Philpot said: “… if you give them clean heroin in a medically supervised setting under the direction of a doctor you can not only help these people deal with their addiction and save their lives, it can lead to a tremendous amount of stability in their lives.”First this Government rushed to legalize marijuana, now the Federal Health Minister is proposing using heroin – a Schedule 1 illegal drug – to help people who are addicted to Fentanyl and other Schedule 1 illegal drugs?​

The Liberals overturned a ban on prescription heroin last September. New regulations will allow officials to apply to Health Canada for imports of bulk quantities of prescription-grade heroin.

What Philpott means by “clean heroin” is heroin that is provided by the Government in a clinical setting or “safe injection site”. Most drug addicts currently buy their heroin etc. from street dealers and cannot guarantee the “safety” of the product or the needles used to inject it. By setting up safe injection sites the Government can ensure safety for drug users. Philpott and her Liberal colleagues think that, under those circumstances, heroin use “can not only help these people deal with their [other opiate] addiction and save their lives, it can lead to a tremendous amount of stability in their lives.”

Really?

The Trudeau Liberals hold to a utopian belief that by legalizing, regulating, taxing and overseeing drug use they can undo the negative effects thereof. In short, as long as the Liberals are in control of the drugs, what could possibly go wrong? They also seem to think that they can fight crime by forcing drug dealers out of business. This seems to be what Philpott means by bringing “stability in their lives.” Now drug addicts don’t have to buy their dangerous illegal drugs from a street dealer; they can buy their dangerous illegal drugs from the Government). Better yet, they can have them prescribed by a doctor.

Philpott went on to say: “We need to say that these people with addiction are not criminals. People with addictions are not failing us morally or making bad choices.”

While I sympathize with the families of those struggling with drug abuse and addiction, the reality is that selling, buying and using drugs in Canada is a crime – at least for now.

When most Canadians think about heroin and other illegal drugs they don’t think about lives being saved or stability: they think about the chaos and heartbreak those dangerous substances bring to families. They think about the violence and poverty they bring into our communities. That’s why our previous Conservative Government passed the Safe Streets and Communities Act. Under that tough new legislation more drugs were upgraded to Schedule l status and harsher punishments for possession were imposed. Dealers of Schedule 1 drugs now face a mandatory minimum sentence of 1 year imprisonment.

I think we can all agree that people want common sense policies that work and that keep Canadians safe. Unfortunately, those are in short supply in Trudeau’s Ottawa.