Which was more dangerous - COVID or Opiods?

Covid has largely passed into history but drug abuse persists

COVID-19 saw world leaders take extraordinary steps to try and limit the damage done by the Covid virus. Lockdowns, masking, widespread use of an untested vaccine, and massive government spending to keep the lights on for households and businesses were the order of the day. In Canada, over 53,000 persons died from COVID infection, many of them vaccinated.

Statistics Canada estimates that 98% of Canadians were at some point infected by the Covid virus. Given Canada’s population is about 40 million, the death rate per 100,000 persons infected with the COVID-19 virus was about 130 people. That datum covers the entire three year period of the pandemic and there is little evidence of a continuing threat from the Covid virus.

To deal with the pandemic, the Canadian government spent billions of dollars on support payment for individuals and businesses, issued countless lockdown and masking edicts, and promoted the use of the mRNA vaccine even punishing people who chose to remain unvaccinated. Despite this effort, 98% of Canadians became infected and 53,000 died.

Opiods don’t get the same attention. In 2021, the death rate in that single year from opiod overdoses ranged from 4 persons per 100,000 population in Nova Scotia to almost 54 in the Yukon and the average for all of Canada was 20.5 according to Statistics Canada data.

Since opiod overdoses have not passed into history but continue to plague Canadians, within six years the death rate from opiod addiction will surpass that of the COVID-19 pandemic. No billions of dollars in support are being spent, no drastic edicts, no sensational headlines. Canadian governments response to this public health crisis is to make it easier for Canadians to use opiods providing “free” drugs, establishing “safe spaces” and needle exchange programs, and in the case of British Columbia, making it quasi-legal to use narcotics by decriminalizing possession of fentanyl, heroin, and other hard drugs.

The Vancouver man who opened a store to sell fentanyl and heroin died from a drug overdose according to CBC reports.

Unlike COVID-19 whose victims were primarily elderly Canadians, the majority of those succumbing to drug overdoses are young people. Our governments don’t seem to care very much about this public health crisis since it does not come with the political capital clearly motivating the response to a “global pandemic”. You can get a lot of votes by pretending you can control a virus and very few for making any serious effort to control drug abuse.

Legalizing recreational use of cannabis helped get Justin Trudeau elected. B.C. Premier Eby benefited from promoting decriminalization of drug abuse but is starting to walk-back his support for softer drug laws.

Stated simply, drug abuse is a greater threat to Canadians than COVID-19 ever was or is and our elected leaders have no credible plans to curb the risks. My eldest daughter (who lived only in the United Kingdom) died from heroin abuse a result of her own bad choices and a lack of effective regulation of narcotics in that jurisdiction. Canada is no better.

When our Prime Minister and Provincial premiers set a poor example and seem to embrace drug use as acceptable behaviour and our education system does a poor job of educating our children of the risks of drug use, we face a growing problem with no effective solution in evidence. What should our leaders enact or do to deal with drug abuse?

The answers are not that complex. Our programs should discourage our children from drug use through education and assist addicts to get off drugs once addicted.

The countries with some success in reducing overdose deaths have made it easier for addicts to get off drugs by making methadone readily available in pharmacies and doctors offices assisting addicts to become drug-free with opiod substitution therapy (OST) with governments picking up the tab. This is much cheaper and more effective than law enforcement. Seven countries that have used this approach demonstrate significant successes.

In parallel, increase the curriculum content in our schools that teaches our children how seriously drug use can affect not only their health but also their career prospects.

The billions Canada spent on its COVID response was not money well spent - it did little to prevent most Canadians from becoming infected but burdened future generations with massive government debts. Spending a fraction of that amount on efforts to limit harm from drug overdoses will have a bigger payoff for both the Canadian economy and for public health outcomes.