United alleges report commissioned by Henry was carried out in ‘secret’

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British Columbia Premier David Eby appears to have been blindsided by the revelation that the provincial health officer commissioned a report on the “economics of safe supply” from an American researcher who has called for the re-stigmatization of drug use.

BC United mental health and addictions critic Elenore Sturko alleged during Monday’s question period that the government had commissioned a “secret” report from Jonathan Caulkins on the prescription opioid program. She pressured the government to release him immediately.

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It was revealed on Tuesday that Dr Bonnie Henry commissioned the report as part of her ongoing review of the secure supply program and concerns about diversion.

BC’s program to provide prescription opioids as an alternative to potentially deadly toxic medications has come under fire amid concerns that some of the government-provided hydromorphone is not being taken by the patient but sold as an illegal drug or ending up in the hands of young people, becoming a gateway to the hardest drugs.

However, harm reduction advocates and public health officials say there is no evidence that the safe supply program is fueling new addictions.

Caulkins specializes in systems analysis of drug, crime, terror, violence and prevention issues, and has researched cannabis legalization. He is the H. Guyford Stever University Professor of Operations Research and Public Policy at Heinz College of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburg.

Caulkins and Keith Humphreys, a psychiatrist and addiction specialist who advised the Bush and Obama administrations on public drug policy, co-authored an op-ed in The Atlantic titled: Destigmatizing drug use has been a profound mistake, scientists say .

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“Society is learning again through hard experience that drugs are dangerous,” they wrote in December 2023. article. “Efforts to destigmatize drug use can delay this learning, prolong the epidemic, invite new groups to try hard drugs, and create more addicted people.”

That position is the exact opposite of that taken by the British Columbia NDP, which launched a provincial safe supply program in March 2020 in an effort to stem the tide of overdose deaths. The government, encouraged by recommendations from Henry and former chief coroner Lisa Lapointe, also pushed the three-year experiment to decriminalize hard drugs, in part to reduce the stigma associated with drug use in the hope that people would seek Medical help.

When contacted by Postmedia News on Tuesday, Caulkins declined to discuss the contents of the report because he is under a confidentiality agreement.

When asked about Caulkins’ job during an unrelated news conference Tuesday, Eby said he first heard that Caulkins had been tapped to complete a report during question period Monday.

Eby later learned that Henry commissioned the report from Caulkins “as part of broader work she continues to do on the toxic drug crisis.”

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Eby stressed that Henry is independent and that it is within his powers to commission a report without telling the government. He didn’t seem happy about it though.

“Occasionally there are moments of frustration like (Monday) when the (provincial health) officer is doing work that we are not aware of, but I certainly know that Dr. Henry intends to share her findings from this work.”

Henry was not available for an interview Tuesday, but said in a statement that he commissioned “a research paper looking at some of the social impacts of pharmaceutical alternatives,” also known as secure supply. Caulkins provided “economic analysis to help guide appropriate monitoring of the impacts of a secure supply program,” she said.

He said Caulkins’ investigative work “is not an evaluation of BC’s approach to prescribed alternatives” and his views do not reflect those of his office.

Henry’s investigation into the safe supply program follows a report released in February that supported the BC NDP’s alternative prescription opioid program and called for its expansion. Henry acknowledged that some hydromorphone pills are being diverted and ending up in the hands of young people, but said “The extent and impacts (of the diversion) are unknown.”

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Health Minister Adrian Dix told reporters he is familiar with Caulkins’ previous investigation but was unaware that Henry’s office had commissioned it.

“It is quite normal for Dr. Henry to seek expert advice and it is not necessary for all people to agree all the time,” Dix said.

Henry said he will make the review, as well as the research behind it, public once his office has briefed the government.

Sturko speculated that since Caulkins had done extensive research on the legalization of marijuana, Henry asked him to research the legalization of hard drugs.

Henry wrote a report in 2019 called Stopping the Harm, calling on the federal government to “move toward regulating access to currently controlled drugs with a focus on harm reduction.”

Dix, however, said the report was not about legalizing controlled substances.

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