New study highlights effectiveness of Halifax safe supply drug program

The safe supply program was launched in response to a COVID-19 outbreak in an emergency shelter and has since been proven 'effective,' an evaluation shows.

A new report highlights the success of a safe supply program launched by Halifax health care and outreach workers during the pandemic.

“Early on in 2020, as people experiencing homelessness were testing positive with COVID, and there were outbreaks in the shelter system, it was clear that individuals needed support if they were going to isolate safely,” Dr. Tommy Brothers said, a Halifax-based physician and researcher.

Brothers is part of the team that kickstarted the safe supply program out of COVID-19 isolation hotels in Halifax.

He’s also one of the authors behind the peer-reviewed evaluation of the program that was recently published.

Brothers says vulnerable populations such as the homeless experienced a disproportionate impact from pandemic measures like isolation requirements, which was the impetus for Mobile Outreach Street Health (MOSH) starting the program.

“MOSH recognized this need and just started doing it. Supporting people to stay in the hotels, prescribing them the medications that they need, arranging for people who are dependent on alcohol to have safe dosages of alcohol delivered,” he said.

The study states there were zero overdoses among 77 residents isolating in hotels over 1,059 days.

Access to substances ranged from prescription opioids and stimulants to alcohol and tobacco through the support of shelter staff, outreach workers and health-care clinicians.