B.C. investigating ‘significant’ opioid diversion

A hydromorphone vial is seen in this undated image.

A “significant portion” of opioids prescribed by doctors and pharmacists in British Columbia are being diverted, and prescribed alternatives are being trafficked provincially, nationally and internationally, a Ministry of Health investigative unit says.

The leaked briefing that the unit provided for police that was distributed by the Opposition B.C. Conservatives also revealed the ministry has been conducting an investigation into an alleged scheme involving “incentives” paid by dozens of pharmacies to patients, doctors and housing providers.

Next steps will include targeting of “specific pharmacies” by law enforcement agencies, it says.

B.C. Health Minister Josie Osborne, who said the investigative unit was made up of former RCMP officers, confirmed the internal briefing’s authenticity on Wednesday and told reporters in a virtual meeting that it was “disappointing” it was leaked and the investigation potentially compromised.

“I want to acknowledge that we know that this is happening,” she said of opioid diversion. “These allegations are here. There’s absolutely no denial of it. There’s no diminishing of it, and there should be no acceptance of it. That’s why we’re taking the actions that we are.”

Elenore Sturko, a Conservative MLA and critic of the solicitor general and public safety, said in a statement that Premier David Eby, his ministers, and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry had long “denied and downplayed” the issue of diversion of so-called safe supply drugs.

However, there was now “no doubt that the NDP government is responsible for fuelling addiction, deaths, enriching organized crime, and facilitating international drug trafficking,” she said.

The document says of diversion that a “significant portion of the opioids being freely prescribed by doctors and pharmacists are not being consumed by their intended recipients.”

“When I first raised concerns with diversion in early 2023 in the B.C. legislature, the government chalked it up as misinformation,” Sturko said in an interview.

She added that she was “confident that it’s time for the premier to take action and immediately call a moratorium on unwitnessed safe supply.”

Unwitnessed safe supply is when pharmaceutical-grade drugs such as opioids are prescribed for users who can take them away to use when and where they choose.

Former solicitor general Mike Farnworth and the RCMP’s commanding officer in B.C. both said in March last year that there was no evidence of “widespread” diversion of safe-supply drugs.

Henry said in a report on safe supply last July that more research was needed “to assess the degree to which diversion is occurring” but added that “anecdotes may not reflect the experience of most people who are prescribed alternatives to unregulated drugs.”

The internal document emerged as Canada faces the threat of a trade war with the United States, which demands efforts be made to stop fentanyl from crossing the border.

The 38-page document is undated but includes data up to December suggesting that about 20 million milligrams of hydromorphone was provided as a prescribed alternative from 2022 to 2024.

The slideshow-style briefing is titled “The State of PharmaCare” referring to the province’s publicly funded program for prescription drugs.

It says some pharmacies are alleged to be “offering incentives to clients” with more than 60 pharmacies identified, and that some “community housing staff” require tenants to go to certain pharmacies for their prescriptions.

The document says some pharmacies are trying to maximize their dispensing fees by offering incentives. Other participants in the alleged schemes include doctors, assisted living residences and organized criminals, it says.

It also includes photos of drugs used in the prescribed alternatives program and in opioid agonist treatments, as well as prescription packaging and items described as “vehicle search results.”

Osborne said only a small minority of pharmacies were alleged to be involved in the illicit diversion schemes.

“To put this in scale, you know, we have about 1,400 community pharmacies in British Columbia, and this is a very small proportion of those where those allegations have taken place, but we need to let the investigations play up,” Osborne said.

Osborne said the ministry will look at “all actions that need to be taken to increase safeguards and to ensure that the treatment that people are getting is going to the right people, and that we are helping to connect them to the support that they need to recover from substance abuse addiction.”

The document says pharmacies target PharmaCare policies by seeking to maximize their dispensing fee of up to $11,000 per patient each year and that proceeds are often used to pay the incentives.

It said PharmaCare’s total dispensing fees soared to roughly $350 million in 2024, almost triple that paid 20 years prior.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 5, 2025.