On January 31, 2023, an exemption to a law that allows the possession of opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine and other hard drugs, for a period of three years
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (REUTERS /Blair Gable)
Canada announced this Tuesday that will decriminalize hard drugs in a pilot project in the province of British Columbia that seeks to tackle an opioid crisis that leaves thousands dead, by treating addictions instead of incarcerating drug users drugs for his possession.
In response to a request from British Columbia, the federal Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, Carolyn Bennett, said that on January 31, 2023 he will enter An exemption to the law is in effect that allows the possession of opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine and other hard drugs, for a period of three years.
Adults in the Pacific Coast province cannot be arrested or face charges for possession of personal doses of up to 2.5 grams of hard drugs, and police cannot may confiscate the product.
Instead, users will receive information on how to access medical help for addictions.
“For too many years, ideological opposition to harm reduction has cost lives,” Bennett said at a news conference announcing the pilot program. “We do this to save lives, but also to give their dignity and (ability de) decision to drug users”, he stated, adding that it would become “a model for other jurisdictions in Canada.”
Several cities, including Montreal andToronto, have indicated a desire for similar exemptions.
A doping control post in Vancouver (DAVID HECKER /AFP/Getty Images)
A small leftist faction in Parliament, the New Democratic Party, will also present a proposed law to decriminalize drug possession throughout the country, although it is expected to be defeated.
British Columbia thus becomes the second jurisdiction in North America to decriminalize hard drugs, after the US state of Oregon did so in November 2020, offering mixed results so far, as few people took up addiction treatment, while spending on surveillance fell police.
According to federal government data, 26,690 people died from opioid overdoses in Canada between January 2016 and September 2021. In British Columbia, an estimated six people die each day from opioid-related poisoning. More than 2,200 people died last year, and some 9,400 since the province’s public health chief, Bonnie Henry, declared a public health emergency in 2016.
(With information from AFP)