Peer-reviewed research is emerging about the possible effects of British Columbia’s safer supply program, with two studies in international medical journals casting the strategy in a different light.

One found the program — which provides prescription alternatives to toxic illicit drugs — was associated with a reduced risk of death from overdose and other causes among opioid-using participants, while the other concluded the strategy was associated with a significant increase in opioid overdose hospitalizations across the community.

The authors of the studies say the two sets of results aren’t contradictory; instead, they ask different questions about the policy, which was introduced in 2020.

Safer supply has since become a lightning rod for critics, including federal Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre, who has pledged to shut it down if he becomes prime minister.

1st study finds ‘relative increase’ in hospitalizations

Shawn Bugden is an author of one of the studies, which found an almost 63 per cent “relative increase” in the opioid overdose hospitalization rate across B.C. after the introduction of safer supply. The study was published in JAMA Internal Medicine in January.

He said in an interview there could be multiple explanations, including the diversion of safe-supply drugs onto the illicit market, which the study says could occur “for vario