The federal government needs to go further to help prevent fatal overdoses, according to B.C.’s Minister of Mental Health and Addictions.

Speaking on NL Newsday, Judy Darcy was asked why the federal government hasn’t treated the overdose crisis like an emergency, as federal drug laws prevent research from being done on illicit drugs and the feds also would need to authorize street drugs being decriminalized.

“I can’t answer for the federal government. I can answer for what we’re doing in British Columbia, and I can answer to the fact that we are continuing to have those conversations with the federal government. But within the context of what we’re able to do in British Columbia, we are going to explore every possible avenue.”

Darcy was also asked if the B.C. government has a willing partner in the federal government to combat fatal overdoses.

“Well, they have relaxed some rules, and that’s a good thing. They need to go further, and we want them to go further. And we are continuing to have those conversations with them.

“We’re going to keep pushing them to enable us to do everything that we possibly can to save lives and to connect people to treatment and recovery.”

Meanwhile, Darcy avoided answering whether Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry should have more authority to combat the overdose crisis. Henry has been able to impose a number of orders during the COVID-19 pandemic and B.C. has seen the number of cases and deaths drop faster than most other jurisdictions.

Henry has also been calling for street drugs to be decriminalized, which would prevent people entrenched in addiction from being arrested for possessing small amounts of drugs. Her predecessor, Dr. Perry Kendall, also made the same calls to enable a safe supply of street drugs to prevent fatal overdoses.

While it’s under federal jurisdiction, Darcy was asked if the provincial government is interested in decriminalizing street drugs, based on calls by the top doctors in B.C. to do so.

“The access to safe prescription meds is an absolutely critical piece, and we are working night and day on it,” Darcy says.

Last month, there were 170 fatal overdose deaths in B.C., the highest one-month figure since a public health emergency was declared in April 2016.