How Should We Handle the Toxic Drug-Supply Crisis? Experts Weigh In.

published on July 10, 2023 by Maddi Dellplain in The Good Men Project

Recent news coverage has highlighted the deepening divide in the politics of the toxic drug-supply crisis.

In Alberta, the United Conservative Party is moving ahead with plans to enact the controversial Compassionate Intervention Act. The act gives police and family members the ability to refer adults and youth into involuntary substance-use treatment if they “pose a risk to themselves and others.”

The province has said those referred to the “intervention commission” would be offered several services, including addiction treatment, and that enlisting would be voluntary in most cases. But others have criticized the act, calling it a violation of Charter rights.

In the past few months, publications like the National Post have run several stories that have been critical of safer-supply programs. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has called on the Liberal government to cancel its safer-supply program and instead put resources toward treatment. However, many experts have highlighted the shortcomings of recovery-oriented strategies alone…