'A lot of people are going to get hurt': Nurses union, doctors call on Sask. to reverse harm reduction changes

The Saskatchewan Union of Nurses has called on the province to reverse recent changes to harm reduction services, joining other doctors, researchers and advocates who say the decision will cost lives and increase the spread of blood-borne diseases — particularly in rural and Indigenous communities.

Last week, the provincial health ministry announced it would stop providing clean pipes and require people to return a used needle in order to receive a clean needle. Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Tom McLeod told CBC at the time the decision would support the province's "recovery-oriented" approach to the toxic drug crisis.

However, nurses' union president Tracy Zambory said the changes are "regressive" and will further strain Saskatchewan's beleaguered health-care system.

"When we take this step back, we grab on to addicts and their families and we yank them back there with us," she said in a Wednesday interview.

"It's very unfortunate that we're finding ourselves down this road that is about ideology, and it does not support the research and the evidence that is there to medically treat an addiction."

Dr. George Carson, a Regina-based physician with a focus on public health, says there's decades of evidence showing that providing sterile equipment and discouraging drug injection saves lives and prevents the spread of HIV and hepatitis C.

The province's move is "entirely ideological" and "just plainly wrong," he said in a Tuesday interview.

"A lot of people are going to get hurt who aren't ready yet for treatment, but they can't stop using."

The province's new rules mean third-party organizations will also not be able to use provincial funds to provide clean pipes.

The impacts of the changes will hit particularly hard in Indigenous communities, rural and remote areas, where harm reduction and treatment options are stretched even thinner, according to Tina Johnson, an outreach manager with Scattered Site Outreach Society in La Ronge.

She said people travel from all over northern Saskatchewan to get clean needles, new pipes and HIV/AIDS testing kits from Scattered Site. The centre also helps them access treatment, detox and housing supports.

"We have a very small window before they change their mind," Johnson told CBC Radio's Blue Sky on Tuesday. "And unfortunately we don't have the resources up here, and it can be very difficult to get people into treatment facilities."

But she doesn't know how people will cope if the organization can't afford to buy clean pipes, now that it is barred from buying them with provincial funding.

"It's not going to stop people from using — it's just going to stop people from using safely," said Johnson.