A Canadian province ravaged by overdose deaths will stop arresting adults caught with small amounts of hard drugs in a desperate attempt to prevent deaths.
Three-year use in British Columbia is set to begin January 31 and 2.5 grams, including opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine and MDMA, also known as ecstasy, for personal use to anyone 18 years of age or older Medicines will be allowed to be kept till
The Canadian government approved the plan on Tuesday, along with the country’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, Tweet“Stigma and fear of criminalization cause some people to hide their drug use, use it alone or use it in other ways that increase the risk of harm.”
“This is the reason that [government of Canada] Treats substance abuse as a health issue, not a criminal one.”
British Columbia has recorded more than 9,400 drug-related deaths since 2016, including a record 2,224 last year.
“It is not the only thing that will reverse this crisis, but it will make a difference,” said Dr. Bonnie Henry, health officer for the West Coast Province.
But drug policy activist Dana Larson said the move “won’t prevent anyone from dying from an overdose or drug poisoning.”
“I think we need stores where you can go in and find legal heroin, legal cocaine and legal ecstasy and things like that for adults,” he said.
“The real solution to this problem is to treat it like alcohol and tobacco.”
British Columbia was the first province to apply for an exemption from Canada’s drug laws and federal minister for mental health and addictions Carolyn Bennett said what happens could serve as a model for the rest of the country.
“Real-time adjustments will be made upon receipt of any data analyzed that indicates a need to change,” Bennett said.
In their waiver application, provincial officials asked people to allow up to 4.5 grams of drugs.
So dire is the situation in British Columbia that last year five youths consumed opioids on a park bench in Vancouver, but police thought they were intoxicated.
Four of them were later hospitalized in critical condition, when officials finally realized the men were barely breathing and resuscitated them with naloxone.
And in 2019, a 14-year-old boy died of an overdose at Langley Township Skate Park as spectators stood and laughed at his plight.
Late last year, incumbent Mayor Bill de Blasio launched the first two legal shooting galleries for drug addicts in the U.S. on the first day of five overdoses at one site in East Harlem and one man in an ambulance from another site in Washington Heights. were taken.
City Councilman Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island) told The Post at the time, “British Columbia leads North America in safe injection sites, exceeding the overdose death milestone each month.”
“How one can see this as a solution to a serious problem is beyond me, regardless of the concerns of the neighbours.”
post with wires
