Claire Rattée: Safer Supply Rollback Confirms Government Ignored Warnings for Years

Conservative Critic for Mental Health & Addictions Claire Rattée

As new witnessed-consumption rules for BC’s prescribed safer supply program takes effect December 30, Conservative Critic for Mental Health, Addictions and Housing Supports Claire Rattée says the change confirms the NDP government ignored years of warnings and allowed a failed policy experiment to continue long after its harms were clear.

“As of today, the NDP is quietly admitting what families, front-line workers, and the Opposition have been saying all along: handing out take-home opioids without supervision was reckless,” said Rattée. “The government is acting now because the consequences became impossible to deny.”

The shift ends the widespread take-home model that was expanded during the pandemic and maintained long after concerns about diversion emerged. It follows leaked internal law-enforcement documents showing a significant proportion of prescribed opioids were being diverted, including through dozens of pharmacies, and trafficked both within and outside the province.

Rattée said the move to witnessed dosing is not a solution, but an admission that the government’s earlier decisions were wrong. 

“This isn’t a refinement, it’s a rollback,” she said. “And it raises a much bigger question: if the government now admits that supervision is necessary to prevent harm, why was this program expanded in the first place, and why does it continue at all?”

Rattée said the government’s delayed response has eroded public trust and undermined confidence in the addiction-care system. 

“People struggling with addiction don’t need policies that entrench dependency or feed organized crime,” she said. “If the government was serious about saving lives, it would have listened sooner.”

“This rollback confirms that the NDP’s so-called ‘safe supply’ experiment has failed. After years of warnings, the government still cannot produce evidence to justify continuing it. It’s time to end this policy and redirect resources toward treatment and recovery,” she added.