NDP: Rustad’s overdose crisis plans have few details or new ideas

THE NDP on Tuesday mocked BC Conservative Leader John Rustad, noting: “Standing at Riverview – a site his own BC Liberal government shut down without putting in place supports for people – today, John Rustad reversed his position on overdose prevention sites for the fourth time in three weeks and announced he wants to do a series of measures that [Premier] David Eby and the BC NDP are currently doing to expand treatment.”

The NDP said that Rustad outlined high-level objectives that closely mirror concrete actions already being taken by Eby to get people treatment and save lives:

  • Creating secure, involuntary care
  • Making access to opioid agonist treatments free and launching a province-wide opioid treatment access line
  • Making sure overdose prevention sites provide connections to treatment
  • Comprehensive anti-drug education in schools
  • Expansion of treatment resources across the province
  • Integrating treatment into the correctional healthcare system
  • Expanding availability of nasal naloxone
  • Expanding Peer Assisted Care Teams, which the BC NDP created
  • Ensuring every school has a mental health counsellor
  • Building specialized housing for complex needs

The NDP said that throughout this campaign, Rustad and the BC Conservatives have flip-flopped on the issue of overdose prevention sites:

“The toxic drug crisis is devastating families, friends, and entire communities. Every person we’ve lost is someone’s family member—someone who deserved care, compassion, and a chance to live a full life,” said Niki Sharma, BC NDP candidate for Vancouver-Hastings.

“We have a lot more we need to do, and David Eby is taking action to massively expand treatment, launch new secure care, strengthen drug prevention education in schools, and support services that save lives.”