Despite concerns that prescribed alternatives, such as hydromorphone, are being diverted to the street drug supply, the B.C. government has stepped in to keep five safer supply programs operating for another year after federal funding for the pilot projects ended on March 31.
Between 2017 and March 2025, Health Canada says it funded $126 million through its Substance Use and Addictions Program (SUAP) on 31 pilot projects across the country that were designed to evaluate approaches for providing “prescribed alternatives” in response to the toxic drug and overdose crisis.
Federal funding for the projects “sunset as planned” at the end of March, Health Canada said in a statement.
Five of the programs previously funded via SUAP are in B.C., according to the B.C. Ministry of Health, which has since provided funding to all of them for one year through March 2026.
Vancouver Coastal Health’s Safer Alternative for Emergency Response (SAFER) Initiative and Kilala Lelum, and three projects in the Vancouver Island Health Authority (AVI SAFER in Victoria, Nanaimo, and the North Island) “remain operational with contingency measures in place,” the B.C. Ministry of Health told Global News on Wednesday.
Pharmacist Gary Siu, who has owned and operated Garlane Pharmacy on East Hastings Street in Vancouver for more than 40 years, said he suspects politics may be behind Health Canada’s cessation of funding for the safer supply initiatives.
“It’s controversial,” Siu told Global News in an interview on Wednesday. “There’s good points and bad points, the bad points, people complained about diversion of the hydromorphone to the illegal supply.”
When asked if drug diversion played a role in the decision to end funding for these programs, Health Canada did not respond.
“The approach that had previously been taken around prescribed alternatives was not working,” B.C. Premier David Eby acknowledged on Tuesday.
In February, the B.C. government announced it was overhauling its safe supply program to make sure prescribed medications are being used by the people they are intended for.
The province’s take-home safe supply program has changed to a witness model, with new patients required to consume their drugs under the watch of health professionals, while existing patients are transitioned to witnessed consumption.
The B.C. Ministry of Health said evidence shows the prescribed alternatives program has helped separate people from the unregulated drug supply, manage their substance use and withdrawal symptoms, while helping connect them to voluntary health and social supports, including substance use treatment.
“We’re going to continue to work with public health, with people of lived experience, with the Indigenous communities and people across the province to ensure that we are keeping people alive, getting them into treatment and helping them rebuild their lives,” said Eby.
“There was significant diversion,” said Opposition B.C. solicitor general and public safety critic, Elenore Sturko. “We know that has caused harm in our community, and whether or not the ethics of this program can still justify its existence, we don’t know.”
While shifting to a fully witnessed model is a good first step, Sturko said, recovery should be the focus, and the government has provided no evidence that safer supply works to help people recover.
“It doesn’t surprise me they’re continuing the funding, but I am pleased to se,e actually, that the feds have ended the funding and it’s clear that this is something that they want to move away from,” Sturko told Global News.
Prescribed alternatives were dispensed to 2,960 people in B.C. in May, according to the Ministry of Health.
Pensioner Dave McAleer, 72, said he’s been receiving prescribed methadone for “too long” but it keeps him off street drugs most of the time.
“They’re trying to get me down,” the Downtown Eastside resident told Global News on Wednesday.
Siu said he’s noticed a trend of doctors slowly reducing doses for safer supply patients, from what was initially a maximum of 14 hydromorphone tablets per day.
“Now they are phasing out like each month, each new prescription, instead of 14, they’re getting 10, eight and slowly phasing it out,” Siu said. “And then the people who legitimately require it are getting short-ended a little bit and pushed out.”
The longtime pharmacist said it’s a complex problem without a clear-cut solution.
“Because people are addicted, you want to help them, you don’t want them to commit crimes or anything like that,” Siu said. “Hopefully, they get back on the right path.”
Vancouver Coastal Health told Global News it will continue to work with the B.C. Ministry of Health on strategies to support clients of SAFER and Kilala Lelum after March 2026.
“Our priority remains ensuring the most vulnerable people have access to critical health services and a range of options to address their unique needs and circumstances,” VCH said in a statement.
Through SUAP, Health Canada said it continues to fund projects from prevention and education to harm reduction and treatment.