Advocates tout safe supply for drug users, but Nova Scotia doctors aren't convinced

This is Part 1 of a two-part series on the relatively new harm reduction technique in addiction medicine known as safe supply. Some doctors and researchers say, since the pandemic, safe supply has begun to demonstrate its effectiveness. While it is becoming increasingly available across the country, few Nova Scotians have access.

Jane was a health-care worker who got a back injury and was prescribed an opioid painkiller. That was the start of her descent into addiction.

After the prescription ended, Jane spent 10 years seeking the drug on the street. She got into conflict with the law and experienced an overdose.

"My life was good, you know, married and had three children and working a job I loved and that all just slowly slipped away when my addiction came. It destroyed a lot of relationships, all the relationships in my life and financially drained me and the depression began and it's been a long, long road for the last decade."

Since January, Jane has been prescribed the drug she became addicted to, under the relatively new harm reduction technique known as safe supply.

It's controversial among doctors because patients are being prescribed alcohol, cocaine, heroin and opioids to keep them from going into withdrawal.

Proponents say patients are no longer consumed by the need to seek drugs and are less frequently involved in crime or dangerous activities to get them. They can also focus on other aspects of their lives, such as work or housing.

Safe supply is also touted as a way to reduce illness or death from toxic street drugs that are increasingly laced with the powerful opioid fentanyl.

Last year, 39 Nova Scotians died of confirmed or probable opioid toxicity. So far this year, 38 have died.

Critics say safe supply is a dangerous practice that could harm patients and make doctors liable.

Jane, one of the few people in Cape Breton being prescribed a safe supply, said for her, it is the only thing that's worked.

"It's completely changed my life, one-eighty," said Jane, not her real name. "It's finally made me have hope for the future. I feel healthier. I gained weight. I started building back relationships, with my daughter especially. My first grandchild's going to be born in November and it's the first Christmas I'm looking forward to in a long, long time."

CBC News is not using her real name, because she is worried about people targeting her to get drugs illegally.