B.C. requires witness for those using supply drugs to stop diversion to streets

VICTORIA — Rules are being tightened for British Columbia’s overdose-prevention safe supply program to require a witness when a user takes their drugs in an effort to stop the pills from being sold on the streets.

The government says all patients that are part of the prescribed alternatives must now take their medication under the supervision of health professionals, such as pharmacists or nurses, effective Dec. 30.

The changes follow a leak of documents in February that said that about 60 pharmacies were involved in the illegal diversion of drugs from the safe supply program.

In response, the government immediately required new users of the program to take their drugs under supervision, and B.C.’s Health Minister Josie Osborne said then it would eventually require supervision for all users.

Osborne says in a statement that “prescribed alternatives save lives” by separating people with the highest risk of overdosing from toxic street drugs and the predatory drug dealer, and the government wants to ensure that the alternatives end up in the hands of those who need them.

The minister says the government will support health care workers who supervise prescribed alternatives, and the changes include “limited exemptions to witnessed dosing” for patients in “exceptional circumstances.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 2, 2025.