{"id":18088,"date":"2024-10-12T18:53:29","date_gmt":"2024-10-12T17:53:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=18088"},"modified":"2024-11-26T20:18:51","modified_gmt":"2024-11-26T19:18:51","slug":"safe-supply-only-will-deepen-denvers-drug-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2024\/10\/safe-supply-only-will-deepen-denvers-drug-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Safe supply\u2019 only will deepen Denver\u2019s drug crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Luke Niforatos<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n

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Recognizing Overdose Awareness Day on Aug. 31, the Denver City Council passed a proclamation that called for numerous radical, unproven drug policies. The most notable of these was \u201csafe supply,\u201d a misnomer that provides free, pharmaceutical, addictive opioids to those with an opioid addiction. If it sounds like a bad idea, that is because it is.<\/p>\n

Even worse, absent from the discussion is a promotion of evidence-based treatment and prevention services that prioritize recovery.<\/p>\n

Denver\u2019s proclamation encourages \u201cprioritizing harm reduction initiatives such as naloxone, fentanyl testing strips, syringe services programs, overdose prevention sites, and a safe supply.\u201d By lumping in these interventions together, radical extreme drug policy and harm reduction advocates are hoping we don\u2019t notice some of these unproven policies that are nothing more than slippery slopes to full drug legalization.<\/p>\n

Case in point: British Columbia, Canada, has already focused its attention almost exclusively on all of these harm reduction initiatives while reducing focus on prevention, treatment, and recovery.<\/p>\n

The result? Overdose deaths have continued to rise in that province and it leads North America in its rate of overdose mortality. Focusing on harm reduction alone has not delivered on its promise as a solution to the drug crisis.<\/p>\n

The most troubling of these proposals is \u201csafe supply.\u201d Anything but what its name suggests, \u201csafe supply\u201d provides opioids to people who use drugs on the premise that a medical-grade drug supply is better than one that may be mixed with other substances in the illicit market. It\u2019s like giving away free booze to alcoholics in the hopes that they drink less.<\/p>\n

In essence, Denver\u2019s City Council members are echoing the calls of radical activists in proposing to give people in active addiction their drugs directly \u2014 and for free.<\/p>\n

A recent study in JAMA Internal Medicine reviewed British Columbia\u2019s so-called \u201csafe supply\u201d program. The researchers found that just as many people died from overdoses as before the policy took effect. Additionally, the \u201csafe supply\u201d drugs are often sold on the black market so those users can obtain what they really want \u2014 usually fentanyl. Even extreme harm reduction supporters in British Columbia have recognized its shortcomings. But instead of backtracking, they are doubling down on this unproven approach.<\/p>\n

Dr. Bonnie Henry, the provincial health officer in British Columbia, recently called for the province to \u201cenable access to non-prescribed alternatives to unregulated drugs.\u201d In effect, they know the medical model of safe supply, also known as \u201cprescribed alternatives,\u201d has not worked, so they want to increase access to legalized drugs in retail stores, clubs, and community centers. They\u2019d place life-threatening drugs in neighborhoods across the province.<\/p>\n

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Denver\u2019s City Council could be headed down this path.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Instead, we should wake up \u2014 and favor an evidence-based approach that is comprehensive: both supply reduction, which includes enforcing the law on open-air drug markets and dealers, and demand reduction, which includes prevention, treatment, and recovery services. Of course, harm reduction interventions like naloxone have a role to play, but they cannot be the only leg of the stool.<\/p>\n

Prioritizing a comprehensive approach will send a clear message that in Denver we actually want to achieve something in honor of the many victims of overdose.<\/p>\n

Many readers may be shocked to learn that the proclamation in Denver overlooked many of these common-sense interventions.<\/p>\n

The word \u201ctreatment\u201d was referenced only once. The concept of \u201cdrug use prevention,\u201d such as empirically proven programs discouraging use among minors and non-users, was completely absent. And the word \u201crecovery\u201d was not referenced at all.<\/p>\n

Many recognize the tragedy of the drug crisis, which took the lives of more than 100,000 Americans in 2022. To overcome this crisis, policymakers must support a comprehensive approach that favors a wide range of responses, including demand reduction, supply reduction, and harm reduction. Denver\u2019s City Council has chosen to proclaim the extreme proposals of activists over real solutions.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s hope they reverse course soon.<\/p>\n

Yes, we should meet people where they are in their addiction. But we cannot leave them there.<\/p>\n

Luke Niforatos is the executive vice president of the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions and an international drug policy expert.<\/p>\n

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Source: https:\/\/gazette.com\/opinion\/safe-supply-only-will-deepen-denver-s-drug-crisis\/article_65ce5e4c-6705-11ef-997f-6f63e2ef75a3.html<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Luke Niforatos Recognizing Overdose Awareness Day on Aug. 31, the Denver City Council passed a proclamation that called for numerous radical, unproven drug policies. The most notable of these was \u201csafe supply,\u201d a misnomer that provides free, pharmaceutical, addictive opioids to those with an opioid addiction. If it sounds like a bad idea, that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,68,119,40,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-addiction","category-drug-use-various-effects","category-prevalence","category-prevention-research","category-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18088\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}