British Columbia rolls back drug decriminalization after public backlash

By Thomas Seal

British Columbia has asked the Canadian government to reintroduce a ban on public drug use, a major step back on a controversial experiment to decriminalize the possession of certain illegal drugs.

“Keeping people safe is our highest priority. While we are caring and compassionate for those struggling with addiction, we do not accept street disorder that makes communities feel unsafe,” BC Premier David Eby said on Friday.

In January 2023, the western province decriminalized possession for personal use of less than 2.5 grams of cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA, and opioids like fentanyl. It was an attempt to treat drug use as a public health issue and keep users from falling into the criminal justice system.

But health care workers, police, regional political leaders and members of the public have pushed back against open drug use in places like bus shelters, parks and hospitals. Oregon reversed a similar experiment with drug decriminalization following a public backlash.

Eby’s government tried to ban drug use in a wide range of public places last year through provincial legislation, but the move was challenged and frozen in provincial court. This time, the premier is going further, asking the federal government — which has ultimate jurisdiction over criminal law in Canada — to dramatically scale back BC’s exemption in the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

Frustration over the slow pace of provincial court proceedings, and the “quickly escalating situation on the ground” with drug use in places like hospitals and restaurants convinced Eby to take a different approach, he said at a press conference in Vancouver.

“Sometimes, tough love is needed,” he said of the policy, adding that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has committed that the government would work with him to deliver it.

Drugs would still be decriminalized in private residences, places where people are legally sheltering, overdose prevention sites and drug-checking locations. The province said it’s working with police on guidance not to arrest or charge those who merely possess drugs without threatening public safety, their own safety, or causing a disturbance.

The proliferation of fentanyl — a synthetic drug 50 times stronger than heroin — has caused a horrifying public health crisis across North America and led to hundreds of thousands of deaths. Tiny quantities can cause overdoses and death because the drug is so potent.

Decriminalization had become a political test for the province’s governing New Democratic Party, which is facing an increasingly tough fight for reelection in October. Eby’s main political opponents have used the drug issue to attack him.

Opinion polls have generally put the NDP ahead — though a poll on Friday from Mainstreet Research showed the Conservative Party of BC leading for the first time.