Ontario’s London Police Service (LPS) sounded alarm bells on the growing issue of diverted safe supply drugs in the community. 

Chief Thai Truong told reporters during a press conference on Monday that Hydromorphone, prescribed as part of opioid replacement programs, is being resold and used as currency to obtain fentanyl, exacerbating the local drug crisis. 

“The diversion of safe supply is occurring in this community and impacting the people who live here,” Trun said.

Since 2019, the number of seized hydromorphone drugs in the form of medically-prescribed 8mg tablets of Dilaudids has skyrocketed.

So far this year, 12,000 hydromorphone tablets have been seized, “the overwhelming majority” of which were prescribed by medical professionals, said Deputy Chief Paul Bastien. The Deputy Chief said that 2022 wasn’t much better, when 85% of the 30,000 seized hydromorphone tablets were Dilaudids.

Comparatively, in 2019, the LPS seized approximately 850 tablets of hydromorphone, only 10% of which were Dilaudids.

Scott Courtis, Executive Director of the London InterCommunity Health Center, acknowledged that many of the prescribed drugs are being diverted despite protocols meant to deter such, adding that they are looking to strengthen protocols.

Drug trafficking and illegal firearms

Detective Sergeant Josh Silcox reported that since January, the LPS has seized large quantities of cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl, and over 11,000 Hydromorphone pills, along with 30 firearms and nearly $80,000 in cash.

“The street value for diloted eights or ‘dillies’ here in London is anywhere between $2 and $5 per tablet,” Chief Trun said. “Outside of London, the cost can go up significantly, even reaching $30 in some jurisdictions.”

The scrutiny over safe supply programs escalated last week when federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre called safe injection sites “drug dens,” and called to defund them in place of treatment and recovery facilities.