Morning Update: B.C. police seizures of medical opioids on the rise, causing concerns safer-supply pills are being diverted

News Snapshot:

Good morning, Since British Columbia moved to prescribe hydromorphone as an alternative to toxic and illicit drugs, police seizures of the opioid have climbed, Health Canada data say. B.C. implemented the safer-supply model in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, prescribing regulated medications to people at high risk of overdose in efforts to sever or lessen their reliance on the volatile street supply. Critics of the program have pointed to the potential for the prescribed medications to end up among the street supply. Health Canada analyzes illicit drugs seized by law enforcement agencies, and data show that the service...