Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart wants federal leaders to act on overdose crisis

published on September 15, 2019 by Camille Bains in Vancouver Sun

The mayor of Vancouver says the city that opened North America’s first supervised injection site following a surge in heroin-related deaths wants all federal party leaders to consider a proposal to allow substance users access to pharmaceutical-grade heroin.

Kennedy Stewart is aiming for a Health Canada exemption from federal drug laws so diacetylmorphine, a safe substitute opioid, could be distributed through a non-profit organization to prevent overdose deaths from potentially dangerous drugs laced with fentanyl.

“We have thousands of addicts in this city and I think the scale of the problem just isn’t understood,” he said in a recent interview…

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