Ottawa, ON – Laila Goodridge, Conservative Shadow Minister for Addictions, released the following statement:
“Common Sense Conservatives have warned for years that the NDP-Liberals’ dangerous experiment of taxpayer-funded hard drugs has been a disaster for Canadians. And finally, after years of denial, the radical BC NDP admitted that Conservatives were right.
“Yesterday, the BC NDP accepted the evidence that taxpayer-funded hard drugs were ending up in the hands of gangs and organized crime, and ended “take-home” taxpayer-funded hard drugs where the most vulnerable Canadians were given dangerous opioids without any supervision. But the Carney-Trudeau Liberals still refuse to stop taxpayer-funded hard drugs from flooding our streets.
“It is appalling that the Carney-Trudeau Liberals have allowed this deadly experiment to continue for so long. Earlier this month, news reports revealed that the BC NDP Government were aware that ‘a significant portion of opioids prescribed by doctors and pharmacists in British Columbia are being diverted, and prescribed alternatives are being trafficked provincially, nationally and internationally.’
“On top of this, last spring, the Vancouver Police Department said that around 50 percent of all hydromorphone seizures were diverted from the Liberals’ taxpayer-funded hard drugs program.
“In British Columbia alone, 2,500 people died from drugs in 2023 and the province has had the highest per-capita death rate from opioids of all provinces in every year since 2016. Across Canada, nearly 50,000 Canadians have died from opioid overdoses since 2016. But instead of committing to end taxpayer-funded hard drugs, Mark Carney told Canadians that he doesn’t think this is a crisis.
“It is no wonder that Mark Carney accepted the endorsement of Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, who bragged about eliminating mandatory jail time for hard drug producers.
“Only Common Sense Conservatives will bring our loved ones home drug free by investing in treatment and ending the insane experiments of taxpayer-funded hard drugs and hard drug legalization.”