‘Safer drug supply’ measures in Canada to reduce the drug overdose fatality toll: Clarifying concepts, practices and evidence within a public health intervention framework

‘Safer supply’ initiatives provide users with prescribed, pharmaceutical-grade drug supply with the aim of reducing overdose and death risks. These measures have been criticized, but also mis-construed from several angles, for example, as representing inadequate medical, or even unethical and harmful practice. Related concerns regarding ‘diversion’ have been raised. In this Perspective paper, we briefly address some of these issues, and clarify selected issues of elementary concepts, practices, and evidence related to ‘safer supply’ measures. These measures are also discussed in reference to other, comparable types of public health-oriented emergency health or survival care standards, while considering the extreme contexts of an ongoing, acute drug-death-crisis in Canada.