B.C.’s first provincial health officer fighting for safe supply of heroin

published on October 29, 2021 by Elana Shepert in Vancouver Is Awesome

“It makes eminent sense as a way to save lives in an epidemic.”

That’s Dr. Perry Kendall, a Canadian public health physician, who says heroin should be available to people who relapse while being treated with substitute drugs that are currently available in British Columbia.

Appointed as B.C.’s first provincial health officer on May 3, 1999, Kendall declared the overdose crisis to be a public health emergency in April 2016.  He told Vancouver Is Awesome that it is “inexcusable and unethical” that a clean supply of heroin isn’t available to people who use drugs.

“I think it is inexcusable that it is not more widely offered in Canada,” he said. “I can think of no other evidence-based, effective treatment for a life-threatening condition that is withheld from individuals who could benefit from it.

“It is inexcusable and unethical.”…