Sam Sullivan, the mayor of Vancouver, is asking Canada's federal government for a legal exemption to the country's drug laws so the city can implement a drug substitution treatment program. The program would target 700 people struggling with drug addiction.
 
The exemption would allow a nonprofit organization to help drug users transition from using illegal injection drugs to taking doctor-prescribed, legal, orally administered medications. The eventual goal would be for people in the program to end their drug dependency with the help of health professionals. Mayor Sullivan said, "Prescribing legally available medications provides people an opportunity to regain stability in their lives and ultimately a path to abstinence."
 
In support of the program, the mayor's office cites "growing evidence that treating drug addiction from a health perspective dramatically decreases crime and public disorder," and points to significant taxpayer cost savings.
 
The substitution treatment program is proposed as part of an initiative to improve quality of life in the city, with emphasis on the need to address social problems such as drug addiction, mental illness, and homelessness. The mayor's office presents this initiative is a continuation of Vancouver's Four Pillars Drug Strategy, which consists of prevention, treatment, harm reduction and enforcement.