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What We Stand For Campaigns & Advocacy 2023 Opioid Crisis Submission
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2023 Opioid Crisis Submission
This year, the Select Standing Committee on Health held province-wide consultations to seek the views of British Columbians on ways to address three areas of concern. Government response, improving care, and addressing toxic supply, to combat the ongoing opioid crisis. Read below for a summary of what we advocated for.
Read our Submission
On August 5th, your External Affairs Office made a submission to advocate for better harm reduction policies, practices, and services, for students. In anticipation of the submission, they also consulted with five local harm reduction organizations and advocacy groups to better inform the submission. You can read this submission by following the links below or read a summary of what we advocated for below.
- Government response
- Urging the government to listen to the concerns of those most impacted by this crisis regarding the newly mandated decriminalization program and to focus on community-based alternatives rather than heavy police involvement.
- Improving care
- Asking the government to create a comprehensive and standardized education plan and tool targeted at post-secondary students with information on harm reduction resources, services, and safer substance use strategies.
- This should be developed in partnership with local harm reduction organizations and student advocacy groups to better represent demographic needs.
- Addressing toxic supply
- Encouraging the government to continue supporting drug checking services and provide fentanyl drug test strips to BC pharmacies for distribution to the public to increase accessibility and normalize drug checking services
We would like to sincerely thank the following organizations for consulting with us on this submission:
- UBC Social Justice Centre
- Health Initiative for Men (HIM)
- BC Centre for Disease Control
- BC Centre for Substance Use
- Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy Vancouver (CSSDP)
- Get Your Drugs Tested
