Police in British Columbia are joining with scientists and health researchers to track and trace new compounds found in the illicit drug supply as they try to keep up with the increasingly complex chemistry of the substances being used and abused in the province.
This is needed, officials say, to keep pace as the “rapid evolution” of the drug supply overwhelms first responders with an increasing number of overdoses that cannot be counteracted with naloxone.
The goal is to create an “early warning system,” so first responders and health-care workers can provide better treatment, while also using the data to identify patterns across larger areas of the province to help police zero in on production locations.
For the two-year piloting of the project, police will send seized drugs to a lab at the University of British Columbia so researchers can identify toxic additives and monitor changes over time. Findings will be recorded in a central database, which can then be analyzed by artificial intelligence (AI) to find new patterns.
Officials say the program will not track individual drug users, but is intended to monitor changes in the illicit drug supply as a whole to help disrupt production and generate more timely toxicity alerts.
“This first-of-its-kind technology makes B.C. the only jurisdiction in Canada capable of mapping the drug supply in near real time,” said B.C. Public Safety Minister Nina Krieger at a Vancouver event unveiling the new program.
But while provincial officials say this better understanding of the drug supply will help them ultimately to disrupt it, a drug policy reform advocate warns that when police stop the supply of one type of substance, something totally different often takes its place. And the new substances can be more lethal than what they replace.
“When police take drugs off the street, drugs don’t disappear,” said DJ Larkin, executive director of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition at Simon Fraser University. “They get replaced with something else, often something that has other contaminants in it or is a different potency.”
Larkin would rather see police and the province working with street-level advocates to stabilize the drug supply and ensure users have safe alternatives.
The provincial government is putting up $300,000 annually for two years to fund the “Track and Trace” pilot.
Victoria Police Chief Fiona Wilson called the technology the most significant advancement in drug intelligence and public health that she has seen in her three decades of policing.
“I actually compare it to the advent of DNA when it first emerged,” she said at the announcement.
The creators of the new program say it is only possible because of the availability of new AI technology that can examine chemical information and change it into “actionable intelligence.”
“Through advanced chemical profiling and molecular tracing, we can begin to see patterns that were previously invisible,” said Matthew Roberts of Aidos Innovations, a non-profit science institute involved in the program.
This differs from current methods of drug checking, which look for specific, known ingredients.
“Track and Trace doesn’t just identify drugs in the sample, it allows us to look backwards to understand how they were produced in the first place,” Roberts said.
Drug policy expert says ‘cat and mouse’ approach won’t make drugs safer
Larkin argues that this effort will not successfully disrupt the overall supply because drug users will likely turn to something with an entirely different chemical makeup as suppliers try to evade police by using substances that are not yet illegal.
“As long as we keep doing this cat and mouse, we’re going to keep seeing those new chemicals,” they said.
Larkin would rather see efforts to ensure the illicit supply is replaced with something that has dependable ingredients, followed by attempts to isolate and go after the remaining illicit suppliers making dangerous drugs with novel ingredients.
“The policing approach is actually making the supply worse,” they said, pointing out that evidence reveals a correlation between large drug busts and increasing volatility of the drug supply, which can lead to more overdoses.
Larkin gave the example late last year when there was a sudden spike in overdoses related to the veterinary tranquillizer medetomidine following several high-profile drug busts.
“Unless there’s a supply that people can turn to that’s safer, we’re just going to keep seeing the same thing we have been seeing,” they said. “And who knows what will come next after medetomidine.”