- by Councillor Jon Farmer, at January 30 Owen Sound Council meeting

Grey Bruce Public Health put out a press release on Jan 27 in response to two fatal drug poisonings in Grey Bruce.

To quote the press release “All street drugs should be deemed highly toxic and potentially fatal. We urge everyone who uses street drugs to take extra precautions, like always carrying a naloxone kit, not mixing substances, and starting with a low dose and increasing slowly.”

I want to note that drug poisoning is a major and long standing epidemic in Canada and that it is literally killing members of our community. While the City is not a health care provider, there are still steps that we can take – following the lead of other communities across the country and local advocates – to mitigate the harm of both the toxic drug supply and organized crime.

One of those steps is to call for the provision of a safer supply.
In 2019 the City of Vancouver released a statement on Safe Supply urging other municipalities and levels of government to advocate for a safe drug supply.

The statement reads in part:
“We often hear this crisis referred to as an overdose crisis, but really, we are in a drug poisoning crisis. One of the primary causes of overdose is the contamination of the illicit drug supply, and we believe that future deaths could be prevented if people could access a regulated safe supply.

Drug poisoning is affecting many different people who use different substances for different reasons. It is affecting people who use opioids, people who use stimulants, people who use regularly, and people who use occasionally. People from all walks of life are affected; we are all in this together.

Urgent action is required on multiple levels to prevent further deaths from drug poisoning. This includes advocating for a safe supply as well as supporting people in their chosen paths to wellness. We call upon health professionals, all levels of governments, and the public to join us in advocating for a safe supply of drugs, to protect and prevent further loss of our family members, friends, neighbours and loved ones.”

This call to action was echoed by the Grey Bruce Community Drug and Alcohol Strategy in June 2021 with deputations to the County Councils.

I should also note that the federal government has funded 16 safer supply pilot programs since 2020 but these have been focused in large cities. We need this kind of support in our community and we need to find more ways to advocate for it. Neither addiction nor drug use should be a death sentence and I want to extend condolences to all the folks impacted by these most recent poisonings.