Thank you.

I am Dr. Julian Somers, a person in long-term recovery, a licensed clinical psychologist and a distinguished full professor at Simon Fraser University. I began my clinical career working at B.C.'s Riverview Hospital in 1987, and was trained in addiction research and clinical practices by Dr. Bruce Alexander and Dr. Alan Marlatt.

I've directed clinical training in departments of psychology and medicine, and led three university-based centres focused on clinical and applied research. My body of research addresses harm reduction and recovery from addictions, often concurrent with additional mental illness among youth and among people who experience homelessness and frequent involvement with our justice system. I have also led primary care and telehealth programs spanning B.C., Alberta and the north.

I'm here today to testify to B.C.'s dangerous and imbalanced approach to addiction policy that prioritizes drug liberalization and legalization and largely ignores addiction prevention and recovery. This approach has been driven by an influential group of current and former health officials whose financial interests overlap with their advocacy.

As has been reported by several journalists, B.C.'s drug policies have been shaped for many years by a network of public servants and university-based researchers who previously focused on pharmaceutical interventions for HIV/AIDS.

The key players include former provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall and the Michael Smith foundation's scientific director, Dr. Martin Schechter, who co-created Fair Price Pharma to provide heroin. Former deputy PHO Dr. Mark Tyndall created the MySafe Society, which dispenses opioids from vending machines. Dr. Evan Wood created a pharmaceutical company and directed the B.C. Centre on Substance Use, or BCCSU, which was formed from the HIV/AIDS centre for excellence. The current BCCSU director, Dr. Thomas Kerr, was recently involved in a scheme to disrupt and silence speakers at a conference I spoke at. The BCCSU provides significant annual funding to the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, VANDU, and other allied groups. He was also involved in research for the Drug User Liberation Front's activities purchasing, testing and selling illegal drugs. DULF and VANDU have a pending court decision versus the federal government, where they argued for a section 56 exemption to be able to legally buy and distribute drugs, including heroin, cocaine and meth. DULF was raided and shut down by Vancouver police last year. Reports state that Dr. Kendall met with DULF about providing them with heroin. B.C.'s current PHO, Dr. Bonnie Henry, is a protege of Dr. Kendall's and a collaborator in these misguided actions. In her report advocating for decriminalization, she wrote, “As overdoses become more pervasive both domestically and worldwide, jurisdictions are looking to B.C. for leadership and guidance. The stage is set for the province to meet this call.”

The BCCSU has substantial influence on public policies that focus in a dangerous and imbalanced way on pharmaceuticals. Drugs are a relatively small component of policies and services that reduce harms associated with addiction. Furthermore, the BCCSU appears to be focused on advancing drug legalization. Dr. Kendall served as co-executive director of the BCCSU after retiring as PHO. Despite public reporting of apparent conflicts of interest, I'm not aware of any actions to investigate how our current policies may be related to incentives among those involved.

My efforts to advance relevant evidence have garnered a severe backlash in my home province of B.C. In 2022 I co-authored a rapid review on safe supply that highlighted the weak status of evidence, the likely risks, including drug diversion, and the alternative interventions that are well supported by evidence. The BCCSU responded by holding press conferences and producing an open letter accusing us of conducting low-quality research, which was a grossly inaccurate statement. They also attacked my character and have sponsored plans to disrupt events that I am speaking at and have me removed as speaker. These are the methods of activists, not scientists.

In March 2021, I briefed B.C. deputy ministers on evidence related to addiction. One week after the briefing, I received a letter ordering the immediate destruction of our entire database spanning over 20 years of research and involving hundreds of thousands of British Columbians. Remarkably, the B.C. government subsequently lied about these actions.

I continue to speak out because I have a responsibility. The suffering in some parts of our country is exacerbated rather than ameliorated by public programs. We need to redirect our actions to address addiction prevention and recovery.

I’m grateful for the opportunity to appear.

Thank you.