This comes as a second B.C. company says it is now licensed to produce, sell and distribute cocaine, as well as opium and MDMA, also known as ecstasy.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was “as surprised as” British Columbia Premier David Eby after a firm received Health Canada license amendments to produce and sell cocaine.
This comes as a second B.C. company says it is now licensed to produce, sell and distribute cocaine, as well as opium and MDMA, also known as ecstasy.
Victoria’s Sunshine Earth Labs, a biosciences firm that “aims to bring safer supply of drugs to the global market,” says in a news release it obtained an amended Controlled Drug and Substances Dealer’s Licence to include MDMA and cocaine last year.
In a written statement, Health Canada says it “thoroughly reviews applications” to ensure licensees follow all existing policies on public health and safety.
The federal agency says Adastra’s licence is for “scientific and medical purposes only,” and licensees can only sell to others who are licensed to possess the substance.
“Health Canada has contacted the company to reiterate the very narrow parameters of their licence,” it says. “If the strict requirements are not being followed, Health Canada will not hesitate to take action, which may include revoking the licence.”
When asked how many other companies have received similar amendments to their licences, the agency said it does not share or publish the list of companies who have received licences, nor does it discuss the status of applications for licensing amendments due to safety, security and privacy reasons.
“I was as surprised as the premier of British Columbia was to see that a company was talking about selling cocaine on the open market or commercializing it,” he said, adding that Adastra’s licence was “not a permission to sell it commercially or to provide it on an open market.”
B.C.’s drug decriminalization policy went into effect at the end of January, allowing individuals who are 18 and over to possess up to 2.5 grams of opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine and MDMA without criminal penalties.
The decriminalization is a three-year pilot project.
The public uproar began after B.C. Opposition leader Kevin Falcon raised the issue during question period at the provincial legislature on Thursday.
Eby saidFridaythat he has spoken to the federal government, and that he is “further disturbed” to hear from Health Canada that Adastra may have “significantly misrepresented the nature of the licence” in an irresponsible manner.
“I find it more than a little bit frustrating that Health Canada is not apparently in line with us in terms of the direction we’re going,” he said. “We need to work together on the toxic drug crisis and our response to it.”
Adastra Labs said Health Canada approved its licence amendment to produce, sell and distribute cocaine on Feb. 17.
CEO Michael Forbes said in a statement that it would evaluate how the commercialization of the substance fits in with its business model in an effort to position itself to support the demand for a safe supply of cocaine.
For its part, Sunshine Labs said it “does not engage in promoting or launching safer supply initiatives” and defers the implementation of policy on decriminalized cocaine, opium and MDMA to experts.
But the company also said the elevated overdose death rate in B.C. coincides with public health officials’ reports that the majority of deaths came from occasional, rather than chronic, users.
That means decriminalization may not be enough, Sunshine Labs’ statement says, and points to some experts suggesting providing users with “an opportunity to purchase certified drugs with known levels of purity and quantity” as a way to prevent deaths.
