{"id":23881,"date":"2024-01-26T13:51:19","date_gmt":"2024-01-26T18:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/?post_type=news22&p=23881"},"modified":"2024-07-23T09:33:34","modified_gmt":"2024-07-23T13:33:34","slug":"national-organizations-deeply-concerned-with-saskatchewans-health-policy-shift","status":"publish","type":"news22","link":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/national-organizations-deeply-concerned-with-saskatchewans-health-policy-shift\/","title":{"rendered":"National Organizations Deeply Concerned with Saskatchewan\u2019s Health Policy Shift"},"content":{"rendered":"People who use drugs will suffer the consequences of backward-thinking and restrictive policies<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

January 26, 2024 |\u00a0<\/strong>Two leading national human rights organizations\u00a0have addressed the Saskatchewan provincial government<\/a>\u00a0to express profound concern over changes that restrict access to vital harm reduction supplies and safety information. The HIV Legal Network and the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition sent the letter yesterday, urging the government to reverse the changes and ground policy in evidence, human rights and best practice.<\/p>\n

On January 18,\u00a0Saskatchewan\u2019s provincial health ministry announced<\/a>\u00a0it would\u00a0stop providing clean pipes<\/a>\u00a0and require people to exchange a used needle to receive a sterile one, as well as stop distributing education resources on safer pipe use practices. Third-party organizations would also not be permitted to used provincial funds for these purposes.\u00a0Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Tim McLeod said providing information to people who use drugs on how to stay safer,\u00a0\u201csends the wrong message to people who we want to help.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

The HIV Legal Network and the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition contend these restrictions pose a severe threat to the health and safety of people in Saskatchewan, particularly those at risk of contracting hepatitis C and HIV, as well as drug poisoning and overdose.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the Saskatchewan government is concerned about sending messages with its policies, let\u2019s be clear. The message this sends is that if you use drugs or live with addiction, the government does not care about your safety,\u201d says\u00a0<\/strong>DJ Larkin, executive director of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The HIV Legal Network stresses the vital role that harm reduction information and supplies play in mitigating the spread of HIV and hepatitis C.\u00a0\u201cSaskatchewan already has by far the highest rate of new HIV infections in Canada,\u201d say Sandra Ka Hon Chu and Janet Butler-McPhee of the HIV Legal Network. \u201cThis is a reckless move, and a terrible use of public health dollars. Limiting access to cost-effective interventions proven to keep people safer \u2013 and alive \u2013 is counterproductive. Anyone who loves someone who uses drugs in Saskatchewan should be very alarmed by this backwards shift in policy.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Saskatchewan is already facing disproportionately high rates of\u00a0HIV and hepatitis C cases. The province has the highest rate of new HIV diagnoses in Canada,\u00a0according to 2022 data from the Public Health Agency of Canada<\/a>. While the rate of new diagnoses of HIV in Canada is 3.8 per 100,000 people, in Saskatchewan, the rate is more than five times that, at 20.3 per 100,000 people.\u00a0Hepatitis C surveillance data from 2021 shows<\/a>\u00a0Saskatchewan had 38.3 reported cases per 100,000 population, versus the national rate of 19.7 new cases per 100,000.<\/p>\n

Information available on the government of Saskatchewan\u2019s website\u00a0recognizes the importance of sterile supplies to reduce harm,<\/a>\u00a0encouraging the public to \u201cprotect yourself from HIV [and] hepatitis C\u2026use new, clean needles each time you use drugs, and do not share supplies with other people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The policy announcement comes as the\u00a0Saskatchewan Coroners Service has indicated<\/a>\u00a0the number of drug toxicity deaths in 2023 is likely to set a provincial record, with a possible 484 lives lost.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis approach is completely unsupported by any evidence,\u201d says Larkin. \u201cNone of this will stop people from using drugs. It will only stop people from getting the information and supplies they need to stay safer. People in Saskatchewan will be hurt by this decision.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Local organizations offering programs and services to support those actively using or affected by substance use worry the decision will harm marginalized communities, hamper efforts to connect people to supports, and put further strain on grassroots organizations already providing life-saving services on shoestring budgets.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur funding already falls short of what\u2019s needed to support the 300 people who regularly access our services,\u201d says Kayla DeMong of Prairie Harm Reduction. \u201cWe\u2019re not willing to abandon people, so we\u2019ll have to find a way to fund the supplies on our own. The fact that the government is making our work harder is so disheartening.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The joint letter urges officials to reverse the changes, and engage in open dialogue with the organizations, people with lived and living experience, public health experts, frontline workers, and other stakeholders to explore approaches grounded in evidence that prioritize the health and safety of all Saskatchewan residents.<\/p>\n

Read the open letter here.<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

-30-<\/p>\n

Media Contact:<\/strong><\/p>\n

To arrange interviews, email:\u00a0jhannon@sfu.ca<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

About the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition<\/strong><\/p>\n

Founded in 2010, the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition works in partnership with more than 60 organizations and 7,000 individuals working to support the development of a drug policy for Canada that is based in science, guided by public health principles, respectful of the human rights of all, and seeks to include people who use drugs and those harmed by the war on drugs in moving towards a healthier society. Learn more at\u00a0www.drugpolicy.ca<\/a><\/p>\n

About HIV Legal Network<\/strong><\/p>\n

The HIV Legal Network promotes the human rights of people living with HIV or AIDS and other populations disproportionately affected by HIV, punitive laws and policies, and criminalization, in Canada and internationally. We do this through research and analysis, litigation and other advocacy, public education, and community mobilization. Learn more at\u00a0www.hivlegalnetwork.ca<\/a><\/p>\n

About Prairie Harm Reduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

Prairie Harm Reduction is a community based non-profit organization, in the heart of the inner city of Saskatoon, whose mission is to improve the quality of life for all members of our community through gold standards in harm reduction, emphasizing local action with national impact.\u00a0www.prairiehr.ca<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People who use drugs will suffer the consequences of backward-thinking and restrictive policies January 26, 2024 |\u00a0Two leading national human rights organizations\u00a0have addressed the Saskatchewan provincial government\u00a0to express profound concern over changes that restrict access to vital harm reduction supplies and safety information. The HIV Legal Network and the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition sent the … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"publication_topics":[201],"publication_language":[],"class_list":["post-23881","news22","type-news22","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","publication_topics-hepatitis-c"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news22\/23881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news22"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news22"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news22\/23881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23882,"href":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news22\/23881\/revisions\/23882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"publication_topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication_topics?post=23881"},{"taxonomy":"publication_language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication_language?post=23881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}