In the summer of 2010, Maclean's magazine published an astonishing story about the RCMP's approach to supervised-injection sites.

It outlined how the previous autumn, the Mounties and the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS were in discussions to hold a joint news conference.

There, they would each "declare their agreement that research shows the 'benefits' and 'positive impacts' of supervised injection sites for intravenous drug users", according to journalist John Geddes.

But plans for the news conference were suddenly cancelled in late 2009.

At the time, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government was eager to shut down Insite, which was Canada's only legal free-standing supervised-injection site.

The senior Mountie in B.C. at the time—then deputy commissioner Gary Bass—reportedly told Dr. Julio Montaner that RCMP headquarters in Ottawa would not permit the news conference to go ahead.

The B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS subsequently filed a complaint to the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP. This concerned the Mounties' efforts to discredit the centre's research.

Maclean's reported that the allegations didn't go anywhere because the commission claimed that the complaint went beyond its mandate.

Stage was set for overdose crisis of 2016

Several years later, the Harper government introduced legislation making it far more difficult to open supervised-injection sites in Canada.

According to this law, these sites had to be approved by local police forces.

As long as the Mounties opposed supervised-injection sites, there was no chance of one ever being opened in RCMP-policed jurisdictions, including Surrey, Coquitlam, North Vancouver, Maple Ridge, and Burnaby.

This month, the B.C. Coroners Service reported there were 755 "apparent illicit drug overdose deaths" in the first 11 months of 2016. That's up 70.4 percent over the same period in 2015. Many of those deaths have been linked to the synthetic opioid fentanyl.

In November alone, there were 128 overdose deaths in B.C., which was more than four a day.

Three-quarters of those who died from this cause in 2016 were between 19 and 49 years old.

Fraser Health Authority, which includes Surrey, Coquitlam, and Maple Ridge, had the highest number: 259.

The highest rate of overdose deaths, 19.7 per 100,000, was in the Vancouver Island Health Authority, some of which is policed by the RCMP.

Questions that deserve answers

According to Maclean's, senior B.C. RCMP officers were prepared in 2009 to acknowledge peer-reviewed research about supervised-injection sites.

This research says, among other things, that these facilities save lives.

However, someone in Ottawa appears to have prevented this public statement from being made.

And various health authorities, including those in the Fraser and Vancouver Island regions, were unable to offer supervised-injection services to addicts, even though these same services were provided by the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority.  

In light of the magnitude of this health crisis, the public deserves the following answers:

1. Who at RCMP headquarters in Ottawa gave the order to cancel the joint news conference in 2009?

2. Was there any political intervention in the decision to cancel the joint news conference? If so, who contacted whom?

3. Why won't the Liberal government amend the law regarding complaints into the RCMP? Is it acceptable to Liberal MPs that the commission has no authority to investigate allegations that Mounties are discrediting peer-reviewed research in international medical journals?

4. What impact has the Mounties' long-standing opposition to supervised-injection sites had on public health in B.C.?

5. Why haven't municipal politicians in RCMP-policed jurisdictions raised public concerns about the force's opposition to free-standing supervised-injection sites that have been demonstrated to save lives?

6. Why didn't the B.C. Liberal government seek a court reference when the Harper government introduced legislation that amounted to a de facto ban on any new supervised-injection sites in B.C.?

Why not a public inquiry?

You can bet there would be a public inquiry if 755 British Columbians died in a single year from gun violence or hospital-acquired infections or tainted blood.

In fact, former premier Gordon Campbell ordered an inquiry after the death of a single man at Vancouver International Airport following police use of a Taser.

So why not order an independent examination into one of the largest public-health crises in recent history in B.C.?

With a provincial election looming, NDP Leader John Horgan has an opportunity to call for an inquiry to shed more light on the root causes behind why so many young people have died this year.

A public inquiry could lead to substantive changes in how addiction is addressed in the future.

It would also do wonders to educate the public about brain biochemistry, as well as genetic and social factors that contribute to addiction.

The usual objection to public inquiries is that they are so expensive. But what can be more costly to society than addiction?

This is one instance in which an inquiry could conceivably save significant costs over the long term, particularly if it leads to more prevention.

Back in 2008, Vancouver physician Gabor Maté told the Straight that 80 to 90 percent of addictive behaviour could be eliminated in Canada within two generations. All it would require is for policymakers to properly apply what is already known about brain biochemstry.

This included educating parents about the importance of attunement in the development of their infants' neural pathways.

Eight years after Maté made this remark, it's still not happening.

B.C. can do better than that.