Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is calling for an emergency meeting with officials from BC following a massive seizure of so-called ‘safe supply’ opioids destined for resale in other parts of Canada — and especially in Edmonton and Calgary.On Friday, Prince George RCMP announced they had confiscated more than 10,000 high-potency prescription pills originating from the BC government's ‘safe supply’ programs designed to provide addicts with secure drugs. Except these were being diverted by organized crime.In a statement, Smith said this particular seizure is in addition to multiple reports of drug seizures over the last month alone that clearly show organized crime is trafficking and profiting from diverted "safe supply" drugs.And she wants it to stop, to prevent them from winding up on Alberta streets.“Alberta has been warning for years that diversion of high-potency opioids from these programs could be diverted and trafficked across Canada, potentially causing irreparable harm and death in communities across the country,” she said. .It comes after police executed undercover search warrants and said they had uncovered “several” drug trafficking groups dealing in so-called safe supply drugs. An investigation seized more than 10,000 pills, including gabapentin, hydromorphone, codeine and dextroamphetamine, police said.Prescription holders would allegedly swap their government issued dope for harder stuff including fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine.“Organized crime groups are actively involved in the redistribution of safe supply and prescription drugs,” said Cpl. Jennifer Cooper of the RCMP’s Prince George detachment.“What we have seen in Prince George is people taking prescribed medication, some of which is dedicated as safe supply prescription drugs, and selling them to organized crime groups in exchange for more potent illicit drugs. The organized crime groups are then taking the prescription drugs and selling them inter-provincially across Canada.”A second investigation uncovered more than two kilos of cocaine and methamphetamine as well as cash and thousands of additional prescription pills, including oxycodone, morphine and hydromorphone..The RCMP investigation confirms fears of some who are opposed to safe supply — including Smith — as a way to curb a surge in opiate addiction and drug-related deaths, in both Alberta and BC.A similar “divergence” from the safe supply system was also uncovered by an RCMP investigation last February in Campbell River. In that case, police seized two kilograms of fentanyl, a kilogram each of cocaine and methamphetamine, and more than 3,500 hydromorphone pills.Police said it was “a well-organized drug trafficking operation.”Smith, who has vociferously opposed ‘safe supply’ said she’s had it, even as BC’s overdose numbers continue to climb.“With the serious concern of diversion becoming evident and the reality that these drugs may be ending up for resale in Alberta, I have asked Deputy Premier and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis, and Minister of Mental Health and Addiction Dan Williams, to request an emergency meeting with their counterparts in British Columbia to stop the flow of these high-potency opioids to Alberta,” she said.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is calling for an emergency meeting with officials from BC following a massive seizure of so-called ‘safe supply’ opioids destined for resale in other parts of Canada — and especially in Edmonton and Calgary.On Friday, Prince George RCMP announced they had confiscated more than 10,000 high-potency prescription pills originating from the BC government's ‘safe supply’ programs designed to provide addicts with secure drugs. Except these were being diverted by organized crime.In a statement, Smith said this particular seizure is in addition to multiple reports of drug seizures over the last month alone that clearly show organized crime is trafficking and profiting from diverted "safe supply" drugs.And she wants it to stop, to prevent them from winding up on Alberta streets.“Alberta has been warning for years that diversion of high-potency opioids from these programs could be diverted and trafficked across Canada, potentially causing irreparable harm and death in communities across the country,” she said. .It comes after police executed undercover search warrants and said they had uncovered “several” drug trafficking groups dealing in so-called safe supply drugs. An investigation seized more than 10,000 pills, including gabapentin, hydromorphone, codeine and dextroamphetamine, police said.Prescription holders would allegedly swap their government issued dope for harder stuff including fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine.“Organized crime groups are actively involved in the redistribution of safe supply and prescription drugs,” said Cpl. Jennifer Cooper of the RCMP’s Prince George detachment.“What we have seen in Prince George is people taking prescribed medication, some of which is dedicated as safe supply prescription drugs, and selling them to organized crime groups in exchange for more potent illicit drugs. The organized crime groups are then taking the prescription drugs and selling them inter-provincially across Canada.”A second investigation uncovered more than two kilos of cocaine and methamphetamine as well as cash and thousands of additional prescription pills, including oxycodone, morphine and hydromorphone..The RCMP investigation confirms fears of some who are opposed to safe supply — including Smith — as a way to curb a surge in opiate addiction and drug-related deaths, in both Alberta and BC.A similar “divergence” from the safe supply system was also uncovered by an RCMP investigation last February in Campbell River. In that case, police seized two kilograms of fentanyl, a kilogram each of cocaine and methamphetamine, and more than 3,500 hydromorphone pills.Police said it was “a well-organized drug trafficking operation.”Smith, who has vociferously opposed ‘safe supply’ said she’s had it, even as BC’s overdose numbers continue to climb.“With the serious concern of diversion becoming evident and the reality that these drugs may be ending up for resale in Alberta, I have asked Deputy Premier and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis, and Minister of Mental Health and Addiction Dan Williams, to request an emergency meeting with their counterparts in British Columbia to stop the flow of these high-potency opioids to Alberta,” she said.
