7 years into crisis, politicians still struggle to see drug users as people, Dr. Bonnie Henry says

As nearly seven people continue to die each day from B.C.'s poisoned drug supply, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says politicians are still grappling with the concept that drug users deserve to be treated like people.

In a wide-ranging interview with CBC News, Henry described the toxic drug crisis as "the most challenging issue that I've ever dealt with in public health."

One of the biggest issues when it comes to public policy, she said, is getting elected officials to shift their thinking after a century of prohibition and criminalization of drug users.

"It has been really difficult for politicians to wrap their heads around," Henry said. "These are people."

In the almost seven years since a public health emergency was declared in B.C. over illicit drug deaths, the provincial health officer says minds are beginning to change about how to approach the problem, but "slowly, too slowly."

"We're recognizing that people who use drugs are people first," she said. "They're our friends, our family, they're our colleagues, they're our neighbours."

Her words echo those of Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe, who has said it's been a struggle to move public policy away from an ideology that suggests the only way to help drug users is to "harm them as much as we can."

Vince Tao, a community organizer for the Vancouver Area Network of Drugs Users (VANDU), said it's not just politicians who have trouble seeing drug users as human; it's also academics, researchers, police and the media.

"She's not wrong, but I would say, with all due respect, that's her job, right?" he said of Henry's comments. "Her job is to make sure that her colleagues, her cohort, understands the severity of the crisis at hand."

Tao believes real change requires more than just viewing drug users as human. He said it also requires allowing them and other marginalized people to have power and a voice in how decisions are made.

Henry spoke with CBC News to mark three years of the COVID-19 pandemic, another public health emergency that has led to an ever-increasing number of deaths from toxic drugs.

On Tuesday, Lapointe's office released the latest numbers on the drug crisis, revealing that 211 people were killed by illicit drugs in January. The death rate that month was 47 people per 100,000, more than double what it was in April 2016, when the public health emergency was declared.

Henry said it was distressing to watch as more people began using alone because of public health restrictions related to the pandemic. Other measures also caused the illicit drug supply to become increasingly dangerous.

"Because of international trade being interrupted and people making large batches on their own at home, there's no quality assurance to any of it, so things got dramatically worse," Henry said.