B.C. has been granted an exemption to its decriminalization pilot program, re-criminalizing public drug use in the province.
Federal Addictions Minister Ya’ara Saks said Tuesday the exemption is effective immediately.
“We’ve moved forward with B.C. on this with a clear lens on public health and public safety because we know that we need to address the opioid crisis and the overdose deaths that we’re seeing as a public health issue. This is a health crisis, not a criminal one. That being said, communities need to be safe, people need to have confidence that, in their own communities, they can move about freely and feel comfortable and engaged, but we also want to make sure that those who are using drugs also have safety and have health-care service to support them so that we can save lives,” she explained.
“Let’s be clear, decriminalization is not the cause of the overdose deaths that we’re seeing — it is the illegal toxic drug supply that is killing people. It is a poisoned supply and it is highly dangerous.”
Saks says there needs to be a balance between public safety and public health when talking about pilot programs like the one in place in B.C.
“That means there needs to be sufficient health services in place, scaled out to meet people where they’re at, and also law enforcement to have the tools that they need to ensure that public safety is a priority, and in the case of public consumption, that there shouldn’t be disturbances to the public for those who are going about their daily lives,” the federal minister said.
“We want to make sure that we look at this from a human-centered lens, that we are compassionate, that we are collaborative, and that we are working with provincial jurisdictions to ensure that health and safety supports are both in place.”
The province announced at the end of April that it was working with the federal government to change the legality of drug possession in B.C., to give police power to “enforce against drug use in all public places, including hospitals, restaurants, transit, parks, and beaches.”
The B.C. government explained it was bringing in “several new measures” which will focus on “providing police with more tools to address public safety while offering support and access to treatment for people living with addictions.”
The province has stressed that these measures do not recriminalize drug possession in a private homes or place where someone is legally sheltering. Drug possession will also not be criminalized at overdose prevention sites and drug-checking locations.
B.C.’s decriminalization pilot project began on Jan. 31, 2023.
“We went into this with B.C. when the proposal went into place last year. We always said from the get-go we would be analyzing, we would be monitoring, we would be assessing as we go along, and also be flexible. This is the first time this has been done in Canada, there are a lot of lessons to be learned. What we know is health supports need to be readily available in a timely manner for those who are seeking help and when they’re using substances. That being said, B.C. has committed and continues to grow and scale out their health services and we’re supportive of that,” Saks said Tuesday.
The B.C. government is set to provide an update at 12:15 p.m. Stay with CityNews for the latest on-air and online.