Mauro Francis is the Executive Director of the South Vancouver Community Policing Centre.The illusion finally crumbled. Premier David Eby himself has now stated that he was wrong, admitting that the Liberal-NDP experiment of “safe supply” has resulted in “really unhappy consequences.” A grotesque understatement for a policy that has cost thousands of lives.It’s 2024, and British Columbia starts its “safe supply” experiment. Immediately, we were told that change for the better was coming. The premier ignored warnings that this unprecedented social experiment would lead to consequences our province was not prepared to face, and that the impact on those who would be better served in recovery is irreversible. .Federal Conservatives slams NDP-Liberals after leaked docs from BC confirm 'safe supply' drugs being trafficked.I said it then, and I’ll say it again: flooding communities with government-funded drugs in the name of safety will destroy lives instead of saving them. Eby let your kids become the experiment.We were told it was fear-mongering. Safe supply was hailed as the future, and any opposition to the free distribution of narcotics was twisted into accusations of cruelty or indifference to suffering. Nearly two years later, the silence has been broken by funerals, grieving families, and neighbourhoods overwhelmed with addiction, disorder, and crime..Kevin Sabet, President of the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions and a former White House drug policy advisor for Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama, also rang the alarm.“Policymakers should focus on proven types of treatment that encourage recovery," he said, “not so-called prescribed alternatives that encourage use.”The warning signs were there from the start. Frontline workers saw diverted drugs being sold on the street. Parents found government-issued pills in their children’s backpacks. Communities watched their downtowns decline under the burden of addiction and crime.Experts like Dr. Julian Somers, Distinguished Professor of Health Sciences at SFU and a leading researcher in addiction and homelessness, also saw the disaster coming.“The BC government is actually creating demand for addiction that will fuel the drug mortality crisis,” he warned in 2023. Dr. Somers was then subsequently censored by the provincial government, which demanded the destruction of his research data..BC report finds over 450 homeless people died in 2023 — drugs main culprit.This program began as an act of compassion. But compassion without accountability is not virtue — it’s negligence. The belief that we could manage addiction by providing pharmaceutical-grade opioids was always based on ideology, not on facts.Government-backed addiction industry attack dogs were quick out of the gate and worked to obscure the warning signs. An almost coordinated attack on downplaying diversion, gaslighting the public into believing it wasn’t a problem, and mocking anyone who dared question the policy’s consequences..They even compared taxpayer-funded hydromorphone to grabbing a beer at a bar, as if a deadly addiction to hard drugs was just another lifestyle choice. They treated us like dupes while cashing government cheques and repeating the same hollow talking points. A wasted public relations attempt.Now the results are clear. Tens of thousands of lives have been lost since this crisis began, and rather than reversing this trend, the government’s reckless experiment has made it worse. The death toll continues to rise, communities are less safe, and the NDP refuses to admit they were wrong..BC Conservatives demanding answers after 'pro-drug flashcards' distributed at Nanaimo school event.Leading a community policing centre in Vancouver, the epicentre of this uniquely North American crisis, gives you a raw, on-the-ground perspective. I have seen firsthand how this policy has acted as the gas pedal on death and destruction. Parks, alleys, and bus stops have been overtaken by open-air drug use.Seniors, living out the remainder of their lives in what should be peace, in the communities they sacrificed so much to build decades ago, now fear for their lives as their home has been transformed into a lawless open-air asylum. The everyday realities of living, working, and growing up in working-class communities are now compounded by rampant addiction and psychotic episodes from the severely addicted and mentally ill..As if we didn’t have enough to worry about, utopian elites have imposed their failed ideology on our streets, with devastating consequences, all the while they laugh in our faces.Every single conference and forum on addiction and recovery I attend, one thing is constant — British Columbia is a catastrophic failure, and our government is to blame. While other countries focus on recovery, accountability, and dignity, our leaders continue to double down on failure. We are truly an international embarrassment.Across this province, British Columbians have lost hope. Parents worry about letting their kids walk downtown, business owners are shutting their doors in city centres hollowed out by addiction and first responders are worn out by an ongoing crisis. The same government that claims to “reduce harm” has institutionalized it..WATCH: New doc shines light on deadly impact of diverted 'safe supply' drugs in BC.Addiction has been normalized. Disorder has been excused, and the moral clarity once needed to confront this issue has been replaced by bureaucratic doublespeak and political cowardice.The tragedy is that it didn’t have to be this way. What British Columbians needed was treatment and rehabilitation, not a system that encourages dependency. Instead, they received an experiment that treats addiction as a supply issue rather than a human problem.Now, the cost of their experiment is measured in lives. The only question left is whether this government will finally have the courage to admit it was wrong.Mauro Francis is the Executive Director of the South Vancouver Community Policing Centre.