B.C.-based scholar and activist pushes for new approach to toxic drug crisis in new book

Canada is going through the worst epidemic of toxic drug deaths in its history, one that was completely preventable, according to the author of a new book.

In Heroin: An Illustrated History, Victoria-based scholar, activist, and author Susan Boyd says this crisis is the result of two centuries of failed government policy.

“I started the book initially because I was working with a group on the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver called SNAP, the SALOME/NAOMI Association of Patients,” she explained.

“They were the first people in Canada to receive heroin-assisted treatment through two clinical trials.”

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Boyd admits she couldn’t figure out why governments didn’t expand heroin-assisted treatment once the toxic drug crisis emerged. That sent her down a rabbit hole, where she ended up researching the history of heroin and drug prohibition, the results of which can be seen in this impressive, coffee-table-style book.

“I think it was fruitful in the sense that it gave me some idea of why our ideas about the drug heroin and why we failed to respond to the poisoned drug supply, you know, immediately in a way that would be forceful and prevent these deaths.”

Boyd lays out how the drug and its users have almost always been treated with a criminal-justice approach as opposed to the health- and social-justice-based one.

“I was very curious about the history of heroin because it’s used legally for therapeutic use in other western nations, but in Canada, it basically had been banned since the mid-50s,” she said.

“We started to frame drug use as not just a moral failing, but as a disease, a disease of the body, a disease of the brain, and now a pathology as well. But the most difficult issue is that we criminalized the non-medical use of narcotics, including heroin. And so, this idea of using punishment and the law to stop people from using a substance has really been a failed policy for over a century, but we seem to not learn from that.”

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Boyd began writing the book in early 2020 and was struck by the difference in how governments reacted to COVID-19 and how they handled the toxic drug crisis.

“Completely struck by it,” she admitted. “I have to say that B.C. did the best job across the nation and even declared a public health emergency in relation to the overdose crisis in 2016. But even with that, it was nothing in comparison to what rolled out once COVID hit.”

“It was such a contrast, the amount of money and resources that were put in place due to COVID. And I have no problem with that. I just wanted to see it matched in relation to the illegal drug overdose crisis.”

Boyd argues the way forward is a combination of safe supply and decriminalization.

“I would like to see us legally regulate all currently criminalized drugs. And that would be different for each drug, just as we legalize cannabis. It would be quite different than legalizing a drug like heroin.”

In the short term, that means decriminalizing opioid possession for personal use, which B.C. will start doing on a trial basis in 2023.

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Boyd says the toxic drug crisis shows we need to rethink prohibition.

“You know, less policing people who use criminalized drugs to health services, harm reduction services, housing, all of the types of supports that everybody needs, not just people who use criminalized drugs,” she explained.

“We’re not lacking in the path forward. What we’re lacking is the political will, really, to change our policy.”