Fentanyl overdoses are side effect of war on drugs, expert warns
As Quebec police meet to set a strategy, researcher Eugenia Socias urges policy address the needs of people who have become addicted
11 Oct 2017As Quebec police chiefs and officers meet Thursday to plan a cohesive attack against fatal opioid use, mounting evidence suggests the criminalization of production, sale, and possession of illicit drugs is driving the fentanyl overdose crisis.
Montreal police are taking a “zero tolerance” stance in targeting drug distributors amid a growing public health crisis. While they’ve recently dismantled several fentanyl drug rings, they acknowledge new gangs quickly move in to take their place to sell toxic heroin-laced fentanyl.
Not only has the “war on drugs” failed to make a dent in global trafficking and consumption of narcotics like fentanyl, it’s actually fuelling the spike in overdose drug deaths, said physician and addiction researcher Eugenia Socias of the University of British Columbia and the B.C. Centre on Substance Use.
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