B.C. brings in new addictions care advisor as premier questions advice of Dr. Bonnie Henry

As B.C. brings in a new scientific advisor to treat people with severe mental health and addictions challenges, Premier David Eby says Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry’s approach to safe supply is a “non-starter.”

Eby’s comments came during a news conference announcing that Dr. Daniel Vigo would become the chief scientific advisor on psychiatry, toxic drugs, and mental disorders.

The premier told reporters he fundamentally disagrees with Henry, after she told an all-party health committee in Ottawa that legalizing and regulating hard drugs would prevent toxic drug deaths.

“What has got us into this situation we’re in is prohibition,” Henry explained to the committee. “We’ve seen that in many different situations over time. We saw that with alcohol prohibition, we’ve seen it with cannabis. I think legalization and regulation minimizes harms.”

“The reality is the challenges of procuring, distributing, manufacturing, patient controls — it’s a proposal that, to my mind, sounds okay at a population health level. But in a reality-based, real-world level, [it] doesn’t make any sense and I don’t understand how it could possibly work,” Eby said.

He underscored that he largely agrees with Henry on public health issues — just not this one.

“I have huge confidence in her and her work. We just disagree about this, Eby said.

In his new role as scientific advisor, Vigo’s goal will be to improve care for British Columbians presenting to hospital multiple times with severe mental health and addictions issues, and concurrent disorders.

“As the toxic-drug crisis changes, we’re facing new challenges and grappling with a growing group of people who are very sick and struggling in our streets and emergency rooms. The current situation is not working for these people and it’s not working for our communities,” Eby said.

“We’re taking action, working with Dr. Vigo to develop new tools to help this very specific group of people so that they get the help that they need, and our communities stay safe, healthy, and welcoming for everyone.”

Statistics shared by the province show that one patient presented to the emergency room 180 times in one year, four patients attended ERs more than 140 times, and 612 patients attended 10 or more times.

“There’s an extremely high prevalence of brain injury in overdose survivors. In fact, at its most severe, half of survivors die in the immediate future and another third in the near future,” Vigo said.

“For those who survive, the resulting clinical triad presents unique challenges in patient engagement and service provision, from prevention to tertiary care and secure community housing. My office’s mandate is to access all relevant data, develop centralized analysis and interpretation, and provide ongoing recommendations to improve and evaluate our health-system response.”

The province says Vigo’s work will help support the government’s strategy to addressing the toxic drug crisis, and expand access to mental health and addictions care.