'Diverted safe supply is being resold into our community': London police confirm drug diversion a growing concern

For the first time, London police are speaking out about the diversion of safe supply drugs happening in the city.

For the first time, London police are speaking out about the diversion of safe supply drugs happening in the city.

“Diverted safe supply is being resold into our community – its being trafficked into other communities, and it is being used as currency in exchange for fentanyl, fueling the drug trade,” said Chief Thai Truong

At a press conference inside London Police Service headquarters Monday, Truong was joined by the executive director of the London Intercommunity Health Centre (LIHC), which is one of several healthcare providers who prescribe controlled substances to the city's most vulnerable population.

"We take the diversion seriously at the health centre and have protocols to minimize the risk,” said Scott Courtice, the executive director of LIHC.

Courtice explained that those protocols include patients providing urine samples to ensure the medication they are being prescribed is in their system, and if there is any indication that diversion is happening, that person is removed from the program.

But despite those efforts, police revealed data that indicated the number safe supply prescription tablets seized has significantly increased in the last five years.