Feds Confirm End to Safer Supply Funding as Drug Deaths Mount
(Image courtesy CBC)
The federal government says it has no plans to renew funding for “safer supply” programs, drawing criticism from harm-reduction advocates and renewed calls from conservatives to abandon decriminalization altogether.
In a statement to CBC News, Health Canada says financial support for prescribed alternatives — safer opioids offered in place of increasingly toxic street drugs — ended in March and will not resume. Thirty-one pilot projects, initially backed by Ottawa beginning in 2020, have lost federal support.
The move comes as Canada's overdose crisis continues to claim thousands of lives. More than 52,000 people have died from apparent opioid toxicity since 2016, according to Health Canada. Nearly three-quarters of those deaths involved fentanyl.
Average Five Deaths per Day in BC
Recent figures from the BC Coroners Service show the crisis remains acute in British Columbia. In May and June of 2025, unregulated drug toxicity claimed 292 lives in the province, averaging nearly five deaths per day. Fentanyl was detected in 70 percent of expedited toxicology results so far this year, followed by methamphetamine and cocaine. The highest number of fatalities occurred in Vancouver, Surrey, and Greater Victoria, with Northern Health reporting the highest death rate per capita.
The federal decision has emboldened critics of harm reduction programs. In British Columbia, where the province continues to allow personal possession of small amounts of illicit drugs under a decriminalization pilot, the BC Conservatives urged Premier David Eby to take note.
“I am glad to see that ‘safe supply’ will no longer be federally funded,” BC Conservative MLA Elenore Sturko posted on X, citing what she called “significant harm & fraud” caused by the program.
The province of British Columbia made changes to its own safer supply approach earlier this year, requiring prescriptions to be consumed under supervision in an effort to reduce diversion into the illicit market. Participation in the province's program has also declined, falling from a peak of nearly 5,200 people in March 2023 to fewer than 3,900 by the end of 2024, according to provincial data. The BC Ministry of Health attributes the drop to updated clinical guidance and tighter oversight.
While critics argue the programs lacked proper safeguards, supporters say they provided a critical lifeline. In Ottawa, a safer supply initiative run by Ottawa Inner City Health reported that 85 percent of clients surveyed had reduced or stopped their fentanyl use.
Rob Boyd, the organization’s CEO, says his team prepared for the end of funding but cannot take on new clients. “We really do need to scale up harm reduction rather than to pull back,” he told CBC News.
Deaths Remain High, Support Systems are Contracting, and the Crisis Persists
The federal government maintains it continues to support other harm-reduction and treatment services. But new restrictions in Ontario mean that safer supply programs there now require provincial authorization to apply for federal grants — even if the money were to return.
Opposition Conservatives have seized on the funding lapse, framing it as a necessary end to what they describe as “drug liberalization experiments.” Liberal officials, meanwhile, stress that they are deploying “every tool available” to address the crisis, including border measures to intercept fentanyl.
NDP health critic Gord Johns called the decision not to reintroduce funding “heartbreaking,” and accused the government of choosing “politics over evidence.”
Despite competing political responses and policy shifts, overdose deaths remain stubbornly high across jurisdictions. Physician engagement in safer supply prescribing has declined in BC, amid concerns about diversion and clinical effectiveness. Public access to the programs has narrowed under tighter rules, and long-term health outcome data remains lacking.
Despite years of pledges, pilot programs, and policy shifts, governments at all levels have struggled to make measurable progress. Deaths remain high, support systems are contracting, and the crisis persists.
