Two neighboring Canadian provinces, at opposite ends of the political spectrum, have contrasting success rates on their programs dealing with drug addiction.

The province of British Columbia run by the left-wing NDP party has taken the approach of providing safe drugs to addicts to break them of their addictions.

The Province of Alberta, which just re-elected a Conservative government, decided that drug addiction programs and detox centers are the best way to handle the problem.

So which model is working best?

In an article for the National Post, Michael Shellenberger explains:

“All indications are that Alberta is getting it right. From 2021 to 2022, overdose deaths in the province dropped by 17 per cent; in the same period, British Columbia saw only a 1.4-percent reduction. In January 2023, the latest month for which data is available in Alberta, overdose deaths dropped to 111, from 172 in the same period last year. In April this year, B.C. counted 206 overdose deaths– a 17-percent increase over April 2022.“

Shellenberger adds that in the early 90s he was a ‘safe drug’ advocate and even helped organize needle exchange programs for addicts, but now looks upon this policy as a failure.

READ: Michael Shellenberger: Alberta’s recovery-focused approach to addiction is a model for North America

One of the issues with the safe-drug program is that addicts are getting the free safe drugs provided by the government and then selling them on the streets to purchase the harder drugs that they really want.

Often they are selling them to teens.

In an article for the National Post, Adam Zivo writes about the anguish of one father who blamed the BC government’s safe drug supply for why his 14-year-old daughter died of an overdose:

“Fourteen-year-old Kamilah Sword overdosed and died last August after becoming addicted to hydromorphone, a drug which her friends say they often acquired through drug users who were defrauding Vancouver’s safer supply programs. Her father, who wants answers for his daughter’s death, feels “brushed aside” by the government and worries about how the investigation of his daughter’s death is being handled.“

READ: Adam Zivo: A 14-year-old is dead. Her dad blames ‘safer supply’ drugs