Researcher Kora DeBeck is calling for regulation as a response to the toxic drug crisis.
“The high level, main problem I see right now is the catastrophic number of overdose deaths that we’re experiencing,” she said.
“The numbers are really holding steady years and years later, and what we know from coroner’s data, from a whole body of research is that the supply of drugs is toxic, and it’s fentanyl that is primarily responsible for the overdose fatalities that we’re seeing, and so we need to do something about this.”
DeBeck is an associate professor in the school of public policy at Simon Fraser University, and a CIHR applied public health chair.
She said the key part of drug regulation is that it would allow society to use tools to monitor and shape the production, distribution, and how people access currently illegal drugs.
“Drug regulation looks like having strict health and safety standards around products that are being produced,” she said. “So any currently illicit drugs that are being produced, if it was brought under a regulated market, there would be very strict controls and safety regulations.”
DeBeck said a potential drug regulation framework could draw on measures used to regulate access to tobacco, firearms, and alcohol.
There are also certain pitfalls DeBeck said society should try and avoid in implementing drug regulation.
“We don’t want to get into a situation where currently illegal drugs become promoted and taken over by companies that want to make money.”
DeBeck said the specifics of what regulation would look like would depend on the particular substance in question.
“Not all drugs are the same. They have different pharmacological aspects. Some produce very intense physical dependence. Others do not,” she said. “When we look at regulation, it wouldn’t be a one size fits all. These kinds of approaches, I think, need to be incredibly tailored to different types of drugs.”
DeBeck said society should focus on drug prevention education in schools, and said that it shapes the community’s understanding of substance use.
“If we had a drug education intervention and curriculum, where young people understood the full spectrum of the risks and potential benefits of substance use, the driving factors behind why people use drugs, and how they had problematic relationships with drugs, and what kind of supports would be available, I think as a collective society, I think we might be in a better position to imagine what a regulated framework would look like.”
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