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The first exemption from federal drug laws will allow users to possess small amounts of cocaine, opioids and methamphetamine
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May 31, 2022 • 3 hours ago • 4 minutes of reading • 334 comments BC is zero for the opioid epidemic, with more than 2,000 overdose deaths last year, ten times more than a decade ago. Photo by Patrick Sison / AP
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OTTOVA – The Liberal government will exempt the entire province of British Columbia from federal drug laws, allowing users to have small amounts of cocaine, opioids and methamphetamine without fear of criminal charges.
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Mental Health Secretary Carolyn Bennett announced the release in Vancouver on Tuesday, but it will not take effect until January 31, 2023. It will stop police from bringing criminal charges or confiscating drugs from anyone who carries less than 2.5 grams of cocaine, opioids, methamphetamine and MDMA, or, as is well known, ecstasy.
Bennett stressed that the government does not offer full legalization, but applies a harm-reducing approach to drug use.
“For too many years, ideological opposition to harm reduction has cost lives,” she said. “Despite best efforts to increase harm reduction, the crisis has worsened, and increasingly toxic, illicit drug supplies have exacerbated heartbreaking losses.
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For too many years, ideological opposition to harm reduction has cost lives
The exemption will be valid for three years, but may be extended in the future.
The British Columbia government applied for release last fall in hopes of curbing the growing deaths from drug overdoses. It will be the subject of a peer-reviewed study and may be amended or repealed during the three years in force.
Drug trafficking will still be illegal and the exemption will not apply around schools, day care centers or airports. BC has demanded a release of up to 4.5 grams, but Bennett said the study they did shows that 2.5 grams will cover most of the people currently charged.
The release is the first of its kind in Canada, but the city of Toronto has requested a similar one, and the Edmonton City Council is also in the process of requesting a release from the federal government.
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Bennett said the release of BC, which includes a requirement for police training and more treatment options for drug users, could be used as a model.
“This successful application will greatly help other jurisdictions to apply and know what criteria need to be introduced,” she said.
However, Bennett said she was not yet ready to support a bill by a private NDP member calling for national decriminalization, as she said the bill lacked the necessary guarantees.
“That doesn’t put guardrails around the performance.”
The bill of private member of the NDP MP Gord Jones is due to be voted on Wednesday. In addition to national decriminalization, it will also create a process to clear the files of previous convicts.
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Jones said in a statement that the government should not offer a partial solution to the national crisis.
“While this announcement is an important step, it will make Canadians living outside the province wonder, ‘If this is good for British Columbia, why not for the rest of the country?’ And why the liberal government is not moving forward with a national solution, “he said.
Conservative Minister of Health Michael Barrett said Canada has a commitment to “help people improve”, but suggested Ottawa prioritize other measures.
“Canadians struggling with addiction deserve compassion for access to treatment and the road to recovery, and we believe the federal government must prioritize this care by expanding treatment and recovery programs so that they can receive help.
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Alberta’s conservative prime minister also has reservations. Prime Minister Jason Kenny said the decision was a “slippery slope” and counterproductive to tackling the dual problems of illicit drugs and helping them recover from addiction.
Kenny said other provinces had to be consulted first, especially neighboring Alberta.
The move also violates Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s promise not to take such action, he said.
BC is zero for the opioid epidemic, with more than 2,000 overdose deaths last year, ten times more than a decade ago. Most police forces in the province have stopped arresting people for common possession and federal prosecutors have been instructed from 2020 to avoid prosecuting cases.
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Vancouver has many controlled injection sites, and the federal government has proposed safe supply programs.
British Columbia’s Minister for Mental Health and Addiction, Sheila Malcolmson, said decriminalization would help the stigma of use, which forces many people to use it on their own, where help is unavailable if they overdose.
A British Columbia forensic doctor tells us that between five and seven people a day in British Columbia die from an overdose of toxic drugs
“The Coroner of British Columbia tells us that between five and seven people a day in British Columbia die from overdoses of toxic drugs and that half of these deaths occur in private residence, often when people are alone.
She said the province was constantly adding more beds for treatment, but could not cope with supplies of drugs that were heavily contaminated with fentanyl.
“Although we are adding new services to British Columbia on an almost weekly basis, we have not ended the public health emergency. “Innovation and determination are ahead of increasing the toxicity of illicit drugs,” she said.
Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart said he receives weekly updates on the death toll every Monday, affecting the entire city.
“You can’t find a Vancouver man who hasn’t lost someone and is in this horrible statistic,” he said.
Stewart said the government should take all possible measures and that this is a tool that can help.
“We need to detoxify the supply of medicines with regulated non-contaminated supplies. We need to build more purpose-built homes with built-in health care and approve more controlled consumption sites.
Twitter: RyanTumilty Email: rtumilty@postmedia.com
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