Starting in 2023, adults in B.C. found with up to 2.5 grams of some illicit drugs, including opioids and cocaine, will not faces criminal charges. It’s a first-of-its kind pilot project in harm reduction in Canada.
This may come as a shock to the system in more conservative circles where abstinence and enforcement have been the main strategies in the war on drugs.
But advocates for drug users, the families and loves ones of those who have died, and even provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry have been pushing for this change for years because, simply put, the old strategies were not working. More than 9,000 British Columbians have died since the opioid crisis began. And through our own inaction, we have become tacitly responsible for the growing death rate.
Without the fear of prosecution and lasting stigma of a criminal record, people who use drugs will be less likely to hide their consumption, and more inclined to seek life-saving health care or access services they need. Less important than making moral judgments about a person who uses drugs is providing them with a humane way to address their patterns as a matter of health.
Far from being a downtown problem, in our own health region of North Shore Coast Garibaldi, more than 200 deaths have been attributed to toxic drugs since the opioid crisis was declared a public health emergency in 2016.
Many of those who find themselves hobbled by addiction still face overlapping challenges in mental health, trauma, poverty and a toxic supply provided by gangs. But at least now they won’t be labelled criminal. To borrow a phrase used by some people in recovery, the first step is admitting we have a problem.
