Canada

I think you read my response, but perhaps didn't understand it.

But “prolonging life” as an addict just gives someone more opportunities to die.

People are dying because they are consuming drugs of unknown purity and strength. That is, you don't know what's in your drugs and you don't know how strong the drugs are. There are simple solutions to these problems. Best solution is to provide a safe supply. Second best solution have safe consumption sites and drug testing available.

the reasons why people are taking these drugs in the first place.

There are as many reasons to take drugs as there are people taking them. The reasons aren't our concern. Obviously poverty, housing and employment are things we can help people with, but beyond that it's up to the individual user. As I pointed out the majority of people using drugs will quit on their own in time. https://www.npr.org/2022/01/15/1071282194/addiction-substance-recovery-treatment

If B.C drags out a program that isn’t getting results (i.e. getting people off drugs)

How successful do you think treatment is? Would it surprise you to learn that faith based recovery has a success rate of about 5 to 10%? There are other programs that have slightly better results but in general abstinence based treatment is a dismal failure.

A new book concludes that the success rate for Alcoholics Anonymous is between 5 and 10 per cent, one of the worst in all of medicine https://www.thestar.com/life/alcoholics-anonymous-has-a-terrible-success-rate-addiction-expert-finds/article_b8a76bb7-0d3c-565d-be99-d57d3337e491.html

This article was part of my first response to you.

When she says “most people,” she means most people who get long-term medication-assisted treatment (MAT), widely considered the gold standard in addiction care. It combines regular counseling and behavioral therapy with the medication methadone or buprenorphine (often prescribed under the brand name Suboxone). Both contain synthetic opioid compounds, which prevent withdrawal and cravings, and they can lower overdoses by as much as 76 percent. (A third medication, less often used, is naltrexone, which blocks the high from opioids.)

The philosophy of MAT — a departure from the moralizing, abstinence-based rehab and 12-step programs that dominated addiction care for most of the 20th century — began to take shape in the early 2000s, when the Food and Drug Administration approved buprenorphine and a federal law authorized primary care physicians to prescribe it.

MAT shifted the treatment paradigm dramatically. Now, every overdose death is a tragedy, Wakeman told me, not because opioid addiction is unsolvable but because, like so many other chronic illnesses, it’s now very treatable. https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2024/1/16/24033590/treatment-opioid-addiction-crisis-2024

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/200405/the-surprising-truth-about-addiction-0

The Surprising Truth About Addiction More people quit addictions than maintain them, and they do so on their own. That's not to say it happens overnight. People succeed when they recognize that the addiction interferes with something they value—and when they develop the confidence that they can change.

I keep editing to add more links.

The first step has to be keeping people alive. The second step is building a relationship with the people so that they feel comfortable accepting help. This can be done through overdose prevention centres and drug testing facilities. The third step would be medication assisted treatment, but not everyone will be receptive to the idea. Therefore we repeat step one and step two.