British Columbia’s prescribed safer supply program — aimed at providing people at high risk of overdose with regulated alternatives to toxic street drugs — is undergoing a major shift, drawing sharp criticism from the Opposition.
As of Dec. 30, 2025, all prescriptions under the Prescribed Alternatives program must now be taken under the supervision of a health professional at the time of dispensing. Skeena MLA Claire Rattée, the Conservative Critic for Mental Health, Addictions and Housing Supports, said the policy change is an admission that the program has failed.
“As of today, the NDP is quietly admitting what families, frontline workers, and the Opposition have been saying all along: handing out take-home opioids without supervision was reckless,” Rattée said in a Dec. 30 statement. “The government is acting now because the consequences became impossible to deny.”
The safer supply program was introduced to separate people from the toxic drug supply and reduce the risk of fatal overdose by offering pharmaceutical alternatives like hydromorphone. During the pandemic, the program expanded to allow take-home doses — a practice Rattée says enabled diversion and trafficking of the drugs.
“This isn’t a refinement, it’s a rollback,” Rattée said. “And it raises a much bigger question: if the government now admits that supervision is necessary to prevent harm, why was this program expanded in the first place, and why does it continue at all?”
She pointed to leaked law-enforcement documents showing that large quantities of prescribed opioids were being diverted through pharmacies and trafficked both within and outside the province. “If the government was serious about saving lives, it would have listened sooner,” Rattée said.
But the province says the shift to witnessed dosing strengthens the program without abandoning its life-saving purpose.
“Prescribed alternatives save lives by separating people at highest risk of overdose from toxic street drugs and predatory drug dealers, and give people a chance to get into treatment,” said Minister of Health Josie Osborne. “To ensure these medications are used as intended, we are moving to witnessed dosing for all patients.”
Osborne added that pharmacists and prescribers are being supported through the transition, and that limited exemptions remain for patients with exceptional circumstances. These exemptions require ongoing clinical monitoring and regular drug testing to confirm adherence.
“We will continue to closely monitor the situation to make sure people struggling with addiction can access the care and treatment they need, while also ensuring that medications are being taken by the people they are prescribed for,” Osborne said.
The province cited peer-reviewed research published in the British Medical Journal that found a 61 per cent reduction in death associated with prescribed alternative opioid use. Patients who received four or more days of medication saw a 91 per cent reduction in death during the following week.
According to the Ministry of Health, prescriptions for hydromorphone — the most commonly diverted medication — have dropped by more than 50 per cent, from over 4,500 clients in March 2023 to around 2,200 in July 2025.
Rattée, however, said public trust has been undermined and called for a full shift in strategy.
“This rollback confirms that the NDP’s so-called ‘safe supply’ experiment has failed,” she said. “After years of warnings, the government still cannot produce evidence to justify continuing it. It’s time to end this policy and redirect resources toward treatment and recovery.”