The author and law professor Benjamin Perrin discusses his new book Overdose: Heartbreak and Hope in Canada’s Opioid Crisis (Viking, 2020), with Joseph Planta.

Overdose: Heartbreak and Hope in Canada’s Opioid Crisis by Benjamin Perrin (Viking, 2020). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Overdose

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s easy to overlook that we’ve been in the middle of a public health emergency for nearly four years now. And it’s not just in Vancouver that the has been affected by the opioid crisis. The number of victims from illicit drug overdoses are in the thousands, and because of the nature of their deaths, these people are largely invisible. A new book shines a light on the epidemic challenging the misconceptions we might have about drugs, crime and addiction. Benjamin Perrin is the author of Overdose: Heartbreak and Hope in Canada’s Opioid Crisis. In the book he provides a narrative of the crisis and the consequences on our society and our cities. He also conducts comprehensive interviews with people on the frontline, people in law enforcement and healthcare; he talks to drug users, border agents, as well as those in the Indigenous community whose numbers are overrepresented in this crisis. There are solutions proposed in the book, as well as a declaration that confirms how we are all part of a way forward. I’ll ask Professor Perrin about the role of law enforcement as he’d like to see it, as well as the moralistic way we’ve looked at drugs, drug use, and addiction, and how we might get away from that. And I’ll get Benjamin’s insight into how politics plays a part, not just in the calculations that politicians make, but just how difficult it is to get things done in Ottawa. Benjamin Perrin is a professor of law at the University of British Columbia. He is a senior fellow in criminal justice at the Macdonald Laurier Institute of Public Policy. He served as a law clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada, and was the lead justice and public safety advisor to Prime Minister Stephen Harper from 2012-2013. His previous books are Invisible Chains: Canada’s Underground World of Human Trafficking, and Victim Law: The Law of Victims of Crime in Canada. Visit www.overdosebook.ca for more information as well as a virtual launch of the book beginning Thursday, 16 April 2020 at 5.00pm Pacific time (8.00pm Eastern). This new book is published by Viking. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Benjamin Perrin; Professor Perrin, good morning.

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