Canada Legalise Drugs

Kamarulzaman advocates decriminalization, combined with clean needle and syringe programs to reduce the spread of infectious diseases such as HIV – about 30 percent of new HIV cases outside of epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa involve people who inject drugs. HIV rates fell dramatically in Portugal when the country adopted its Dekrim policy in 2001. Decriminalization would also likely reduce the higher rates of disease spread (particularly HIV and tuberculosis and now Covid-19) associated with incarceration. “From this point of view alone, it would be extremely beneficial for the public to keep out of prison people who should not be taken there in the first place,” Kamarulzaman says. And that is indeed a problem. The war on drugs has been going on for half a century, and writing is on the wall: it`s clearly not working. “The record is clear that the global war on drugs has been a total catastrophic political failure,” said Ben Perrin, a law professor at the University of British Columbia and author of Overdose: Heartbreak and Hope in Canada`s Opioid Crisis. The criminalization of drug use is disproportionately directed against marginalized people, including Black and Indigenous communities, the uninhabited, and people with mental illness. And the stigma that comes with criminalization means that people are less likely to seek help and are more likely to use drugs on their own, contributing to higher overdose rates.

The lower threshold simply doesn`t reflect how people actually use drugs – one size fits all. The increase in drug tolerance among people who have used drugs over a long period of time, the joint purchase between several people for affordability reasons, and the enduring nature of fentanyl – a synthetic opioid up to 50 times more potent than heroin often found on the illegal drug market – mean that people often carry more than 2.5 grams. Most experts say it`s simply not high enough to make a significant difference. “I really take the example of the real experts on this issue,” Perrin says, “it`s the people who use drugs.” And members of this group have repeatedly stated that a person who has consumed substances long-term usually has more than 2.5 grams for personal use. When British Columbia filed the decriminalization application with Health Canada late last year, a threshold of 4.5 grams was required – and this was already considered too low by the same groups. Later, it turned out that the final threshold of 2.5 grams was based on police comments. If you want to relieve this political space, why are you inviting the police to get behind the wheel? It makes no sense, Werb says. Portugal is often presented as a leading figure in the decriminalization of drugs. A common fear is that such a policy will lead to increased use, but this has not been reflected in the country`s statistics. Drug use has decreased, drug-related deaths have decreased, and the number of people being treated for substance use disorders has increased. (One factor that obscures the data is that when Portugal adopted the policy, it also invested in other branches of social assistance, including a guaranteed minimum income, which likely also had an impact.) She said it was encouraging that Canada already had a strong harm reduction model before decriminalization, and Kurbatova said she hoped it would “have the courage to try new things” — including a regulated supply of drugs. And it is doing little to address the problem underlying the opioid crisis in British Columbia: a precarious supply of drugs on the illicit market.

“Decrim will not change the potency or falsification of the supply of unregulated drugs,” Says Werb. What needs to happen if we really want to control overdose deaths is to intervene in what kills people, which is the market itself. This is the bare minimum of a policy change, he says, and it must be combined with wider access to secure injection rooms and drug control. The substances would remain illegal, but adults found in possession of up to 2.5 grams of illegal substances will no longer be arrested, charged or their drugs seized, according to an official statement. The exemption will be in effect from January 31, 2023 to January 31, 2026, and police will provide information on available health and social support instead of punishing those found in possession of small amounts of released drugs. When British Columbia decriminalizes small amounts of certain illegal drugs next year, Canada will join a growing number of countries that have taken steps to eliminate penalties for drug use. Health officials say those who have found up to 2.5 grams of specific drugs receive information and referrals to local health and social services from law enforcement agencies. “Security of supply seems to be such an important conversation when we see so many people dying,” she said. “And it feels so far from where most people are when it comes to drugs.” The british columbia policy change applies to persons 18 years of age and older who are in possession of 2.5 grams or less of illicit drugs.

“By decriminalizing people who use drugs, we will eliminate the stigma that prevents people from receiving life-saving support and services,” she said in a statement. The policy approved by federal officials does not legalize substances, but Canadians in the Pacific Coast Province who possess up to 2.5 g of illicit drugs for personal use will not be arrested or charged. PA ASSESSMENT: Lack of context. An exception to Canada`s drug laws, which are tested for three years in the province of British Columbia, decriminalizes substances, but does not legalize them.