‘Canada’s forgotten public health emergency’: opioid crisis rages amid the pandemic, says former Harper aide

'If we can deliver fast food to people, we can deliver life-saving medical support to people’s doors,' says Benjamin Perrin, a former senior adviser to then-prime minister Stephen Harper, about providing safe supply for those with opioid addictions amid this pandemic.

Benjamin Perrin, a former senior adviser to then-prime minister Stephen Harper, is the author of a new book, Overdose: Heartbreak and Hope in Canada's Opioid Crisis, in which he outlines a series of policy recommendations for ramping up political support for decriminalizing the treatment of those with addictions.Photographs courtesy of Benjamin Perrin and Penguin Random House

Feature

BY BEATRICE PAEZ

April 15, 2020

With public health officials largely preoccupied with beating back the spread of the stealthy coronavirus, Benjamin Perrin, a former senior aide to then-prime minister Stephen Harper, says the collision of the pandemic with the opioid crisis has the makings of a "perfect storm." Given that a potent...

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