The politics of the toxic drug crisis

2025-04-24

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Since 2016, the toxic drug crisis has taken more than 50 thousand Canadian lives.The Conservative party has promised $200-million a year to fund addictions recovery care for 50,000 people, according to the party's platform. Leader Pierre Poilievre has also vowed to “defund drug dens” – imposing strict new rules for overdose prevention sites and supervised consumption sites.Liberal leader Mark Carney has said that his party would review the effectiveness of such sites, while the federal NDP supports them....

Since 2016, the toxic drug crisis has taken more than 50 thousand Canadian lives.

The Conservative party has promised $200-million a year to fund addictions recovery care for 50,000 people, according to the party's platform. Leader Pierre Poilievre has also vowed to “defund drug dens” – imposing strict new rules for overdose prevention sites and supervised consumption sites.

Liberal leader Mark Carney has said that his party would review the effectiveness of such sites, while the federal NDP supports them.

So given all of that…who’s left fighting the toxic drug crisis? How did harm reduction programs become so politically unviable? And what does that mean for drug users?

Front Burner senior producer Elaine Chau brings us this documentary from Vancouver – ground zero of an overdose crisis that’s now wreaked havoc across the country.

Make sure to watch our election night livestream on Monday, April 28 starting at 8pm Eastern. You can find it here on the CBC News YouTube channel and on the CBC News TikTok.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

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