Fate of B.C.’s drug decriminalization pilot to be determined

by ANDREA WOO for the Globe and Mail – Read the source article

VANCOUVER

B.C. Premier David Eby says public drug use will not be permitted when the province’s contentious decriminalization trial comes up for renewal at the end of this month.

But it remains to be seen whether his government will seek to extend the pilot in any iteration. After successive amendments, drug decriminalization in B.C. is currently limited largely to private residences. 

“We’re working closely with the federal government on this, but let me be clear: We are not going back to the old policy of decriminalized public drug use in British Columbia,” Mr. Eby told reporters in Vancouver on Tuesday. “It didn’t work and we ended that.”

Health Canada granted B.C. an exemption from the federal Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to decriminalize personal possession of opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine and MDMA for people 18 years and older. The exemption came into effect on Jan. 31, 2023, and is set to expire at the end of this month unless it is replaced by another exemption. 

B.C. Health Minister Josie Osborne said Tuesday that a decision had not yet been made.

In decriminalizing drug possession, B.C. and federal officials said removing criminal penalties would lessen stigma and steer users away from the justice system toward health and social services – a shift that some studies suggest the pilot began to achieve. 

However, local governments and law enforcement soon expressed concerns about public drug use and related street disorder, prompting B.C. in September, 2023, to amend the rules to restrict drug use in public spaces used by children, such as playgrounds and skate parks. 

The complaints persisted, with heated public and political discourse sometimes conflating issues of drug use, mental illness, poverty and homelessness. A widely circulated video of a man smoking drugs inside a Maple Ridge Tim Horton’s restaurant – an act that remained prohibited under the decriminalization pilot – was depicted by critics as evidence of the pilot project’s failure. Supporters of decriminalization noted the continued challenges of accessing substance use, mental health and housing supports. 

In May, 2024, the B.C. government retreated further, again banning illicit drug use in all public spaces, allowing only for drug decriminalization inside private residences, sanctioned shelters and addiction treatment sites.

Victoria Police Chief Fiona Wilson, a past president of the BC Association of Chiefs of Police who sat on the province’s decriminalization core planning table, said police supported the initiative in principle, but had concerns about public consumption and curtailed policing powers that were inadequately addressed.

Chief Wilson said the pilot fostered a culture of permissiveness and left police without lawful authority to intervene when people used drugs in public spaces such as bus stops.

“I believe that just as sometimes we need to think outside of the box and consider new solutions to challenges, particularly one as significant as the opioid crisis, we also have to be brave and bold and stand up and talk about it when something is not working,” said Chief Wilson, who previously served as deputy chief with the Vancouver Police Department. “And that’s indeed what happened with the pilot project here in British Columbia.”

Some studies suggest the pilot achieved at least some of its intended effects. 

One analysis of 319 young, street-involved drug users in Vancouver found that decriminalization was associated with reductions in policing-related barriers to accessing harm-reduction services. Reports of such barriers were increasing by an average of 141 per cent a year before implementation and dropped by 65 per cent after, according to the study, which was published in the December edition of the International Journal of Drug Policy.

A sub-analysis of Indigenous participants showed a similar pattern: Reports of policing-related barriers were rising 144 per cent a year before decriminalization, and fell an average of 72 per cent a year afterward. 

“These findings suggest that decriminalization of personal possession may have advanced a central policy objective by reducing criminalization-related barriers to harm reduction services among people who use drugs,” the study said. 

Another study published in the same edition of the journal found that federal guidelines issued in 2020 directing prosecutors to avoid criminal charges for simple drug possession – prior to B.C.’s decriminalization initiative – led to a 46-per-cent decrease in such police-recorded incidents across Canada. B.C’s pilot decreased possession incidents by another 52 per cent within the province, while there were no significant changes observed elsewhere in Canada.

The findings suggest that decriminalization “may help alleviate some of the social and resulting health harms related to the adverse effects” of criminalized drug use, the study concluded. 

“However, the ongoing challenges posed by the toxic illicit drug crisis in Canada, including high levels of overdose deaths, highlight the need for additional public health-oriented interventions.”