B.C. backs away from drug decriminalization pilot after 'careful consideration'
The B.C. government announced that it will not continue its controversial drug decriminalization pilot.
B.C. Minister of Health Josie Osborne said that the three-year pilot project “hasn’t delivered the results that we had hoped for,” and they won’t be asking the federal government to continue its exemption to decriminalize people who use drugs.
“The toxic drug crisis continues to have an absolutely devastating impact on communities and families across the crisis,” she said. “From the beginning, this pilot was designed as a time-limited trial, with ongoing monitoring built in so we could understand what was working, what wasn’t, and where changes were needed,” she said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
“We need to consider every option and tool available to save lives and help,” she said. “Our government remains absolutely committed to exploring every option, to using evidence-informed tools that can save lives and help connect people to care.”
The pilot started on Jan. 31, 2023, and is set to finish at the end of this month. Health Canada had granted B.C. a three-year exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to decriminalize people who use drugs.
This meant that anyone in B.C. age 18 or older could possess up to 2.5 grams of MDMA, methamphetamine, cocaine, or opioids for personal use. For three years, individuals didn’t face arrest for possession, nor could police seize the substances.
Decriminalization is not the same as legalization, and the drugs remained illegal under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.
The purpose of this program was to respond to the deadly toxic drug crisis, with the idea that if people believe they’ll face law enforcement for possession of drugs, they might hide their drugs and avoid treatment.
“By decriminalizing people who use drugs, we will break down the stigma that stops people from accessing life-saving support and services,” said Sheila Malcolmson, the former B.C. minister of mental health and addictions, when B.C. announced the pilot in 2022.
Before the pilot started in 2023, the B.C. government said that criminalization had resulted in “visible harms,” including overdoses and deaths, stigma and shame, the economic costs of processing people through the criminal justice system, and users resorting to unfamiliar drug sources after a seizure.
The province said that hidden harms include survival sex work, survival theft, racial disparities in policing, general mistrust of police, and family and community disconnection.
Controversial policy
But this has proven to be a controversial policy, with some people attributing increasing crime in Vancouver and other parts of the province to it.
In 2024, B.C. started walking back on it, making illicit drug use illegal in public spaces. It worked with the federal government to change the legality of possessing drugs in B.C. to give police the power to enforce against drug use in public places.
“Keeping people safe is our highest priority. While we are caring and compassionate for those struggling with addiction, we do not accept street disorder that makes communities feel unsafe,” said Premier David Eby, in a press release published at the time.
In late 2024, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police released a statement, announcing that they no longer support “decriminalization of any amount of illicit drugs for personal use.”
“Police have witnessed trends of concern, including a continued high rate of opioid overdose deaths as well as growing fear among law-abiding community members due to public drug use and drug-related criminal activity,” wrote Tom Carrique, the organization’s president.
“While robust, evidence-based healthcare, addiction, and social programs are vital, drug
enforcement remains an essential tool to address the public safety risks linked to illicit drug use,” he added.
However, last November, Kasari Govender, B.C.’s Human Rights Commissioner, published a position statement where she called on the government to “put politics aside.”
She said B.C. didn’t make its decision to roll back on decriminalization based on evidence, but “on unsubstantiated public perception that street disorder increased under decriminalization, of which there is no data to support.”
Govender wrote that the toxic drug crisis “is a societal and public health crisis” and that “treating people who use drugs as if their health issues are moral failings is a violation of their human rights.”
“Over the last decade, the unregulated drug supply has become increasingly toxic. It is contaminated with fentanyl, benzodiazepines and other dangerous substances that are unpredictable, difficult for care providers to manage and do not always respond to life-saving efforts such as naloxone. These toxic, and often cheaper, substances are added to the drug supply to enhance potency and increase dependency,” wrote Govender.
With files from Megan Devlin and Amir Ali