Martin Steward holds cocaine he received from the Drug User Liberation Front, which was handing out a safe supply of illicit drugs in the Downtown Eastside to mark the five-year anniversary of British Columbia declaring a public health emergency in the overdose crisis, in Vancouver, B.C., Wednesday, April 14, 2021. Health Canada has granted a British Columbia cannabis company the right to possess, produce, sell and distribute cocaine. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
LANGLEY, B.C. – British Columbia Premier David Eby says he is “astonished” that Health Canada has granted a cannabis company the right to possess, produce, sell and distribute cocaine.
Adastra Labs in Langley, B.C., said in a news release that Health Canada gave it approval on Feb. 17 for an amendment under its controlled substance dealer’s licence.
Eby told a news conference on Thursday about funding for overdose prevention and mental health that, “if Health Canada did in fact do this,” the federal agency did so without engaging the B.C. government or notifying the province.
The premier said the province will be contacting Health Canada for answers.
“It is not part of our provincial plan,” he said, referring to the ongoing effort to stem the overdose death rate, with an average of more than six people dying every day in B.C. in 2022.
Health Canada has not responded to requests for comment.
Decriminalization of up to 2.5 grams of drugs, including cocaine, began in B.C. on Jan. 31, after the federal government approved the decriminalization exemption as one of several steps to combat the crisis.
More than 11,000 people have died from illicit overdoses since British Columbia declared a public health emergency in 2016. The increase came as the opioid fentanyl became the dominant illicit drug.
Adastra said in the statement the amended licence allows the company to “interact” with up to 250 grams of cocaine and to import coca leaves in order to make and synthesize the substance.
Adastra CEO Michael Forbes said it will evaluate how the commercialization of the substance fits in with its business model in an effort to position itself to support the demand for a safe supply of cocaine.
Forbes said that “harm reduction is a critically important and mainstream topic,” and they are staying in the forefront of drug regulations.
In a written response, Kevin Hollett, a spokesman for the B.C. Centre on Substance Use, said the agency knows “very little” about the exemption granted to Adastra.
Hollett said the B.C. safe supply policy released in July 2021 focused on opioids.
He said the provincial agency isn’t clear “how this might fit in, if it does at all.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 2, 2023.
