The Canadian government on Tuesday rolled back part of a program that allowed British Columbians to possess small amounts of drugs, including heroin and cocaine, without fear of criminal prosecution. After calls for caution and public backlash, British Columbians will no longer be allowed to use drugs in public places.
Under the changes, which took effect immediately, adults can still possess small amounts of the drug. But now they must use them at legal residences, safe injection sites and other harm reduction centers set up by health officials.
The recriminalization of public drug use in British Columbia highlights the challenges the government faces as it grapples with the opioid crisis. There are no easy answers, even in a region that has been a global pioneer in the harm reduction movement, an approach that seeks to reduce risky behavior rather than punish drug users.
The state medical examiner estimates there were a record 2,511 deaths from toxic drugs last year. According to the British Columbia Coroner’s Office, drug overdoses from toxic substances kill more people aged 10 to 59 in British Columbia than from homicides, suicides, accidents and natural diseases combined.
The goal of decriminalizing possession was to allow police officers to focus their time on large drug distributors rather than users and to encourage users to be open to treatment. However, concerns about public drug use quickly surfaced and were raised repeatedly in the state legislature by opposition lawmakers.
Eugenia Oviedo-Joekes, a professor of medicine at the University of British Columbia who studies addiction and public health policy, said the decision is “three steps back” in tackling the opioid crisis.
She noted that both smoking and drinking in public places have been successfully restricted without criminal law, and criticized both levels of government for recriminalizing public drug use without expanding the availability of safe drug use places or taking other steps. I did.
“Instead of seeking improvement, we seek limitation,” Professor Oviedo-Joekes said. “That’s what’s a little frustrating here.”
“This is a health crisis, not a crime,” Federal Mental Health and Addictions Minister Ya’ara Saks told reporters. “That means the community must be safe. “People need to be able to move freely and feel comfortable in their communities.”
The decriminalization of small-quantity drug possession was a three-year waiver that began in January 2023 and was one of several measures taken by British Columbia to address the opioid crisis. The decriminalization plan has the support of police officials and the state’s medical examiner.
In some parts of British Columbia, especially Vancouver, drug use in public places has long been a norm. City police statistics show complaints about them have declined since the pilot program began, but public use appears to have spread beyond the neighborhoods where they were most common before decriminalization.
“There have been several instances of problematic drug use in public places, including parks, beaches and around public transportation,” Vancouver Police Deputy Chief Fiona Wilson told a parliamentary committee last month. She said: “There were also concerns in small businesses about problematic drug use.”
However, she added that after decriminalization, police cannot take action on reports. “If there’s someone on the beach with her family and there’s someone smoking crack cocaine next to them, that’s not the police’s problem.”
Accordingly, local governments attempted for the first time last year to ban public drug use in public places such as parks, beaches, playgrounds, and near workplaces. But a British Columbia Supreme Court judge ruled against the ban, ruling it would cause “irreparable harm” to drug users by pushing them into less safe areas.
Premier David Eby, whose government faces elections this year, called on the federal government two weeks ago to re-criminalize public drug use.
Garth Mullins, a member of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, said the city’s severe housing problem has left many of the region’s estimated 225,000 drug users without private residences and access to safe injection sites. He said it means there is a lack of capacity. them.
“This is going to push people back into the alleys and the shadows and that’s not good,” he said. “More people will be arrested, have their records secured, and go to jail on simple possession charges.”
Mullins also argued that public drug use has become a serious problem in British Columbia since decriminalization.
“There is no data or evidence that there is any real risk to people,” he said. “So it’s all about emotions, and these emotions are being stirred up by conservative politicians.”