Ahead of the decriminalization of simple possession of hard drugs in British Columbia last year, there was widespread acknowledgment that decades of arresting people struggling with addiction had failed.
In 2020, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police endorsed decriminalization. Arrests had, the chiefs said, “proven to be ineffective”; they recognized “substance use disorder as a public health issue.” That was one essential shift that led to Ottawa’s backing of B.C.’s plan to – for an initial three-year trial – remove criminal penalties on drugs such as opioids and cocaine, starting in early 2023.
Decriminalization was never going to be a cure-all. In mid-2022, when the plan was approved, this space described it as “one policy among a suite of measures that can make a difference.” The goal was to remove the threat of arrest for people who suffered from addiction, alongside leading those people to health care services, including treatment.
But what has also happened is a perceived permissiveness, that using such drugs in parks and other public places is somehow acceptable. It is not. That existed before but appears to have worsened, undermining public support. The B.C. government has scrambled to address the problems. Polls had previously shown majority public support for decriminalization.
Legislation in B.C. last fall restricted public drug use but a court injunction in December derailed it. B.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson ruled that the “irreparable harm” it could cause people who use drugs outweighed the disorder of public drug use.
That decision, although not the final word in the case, is questionable. Last week, B.C. turned to Ottawa, to partly roll back last year’s federal exemption. If Ottawa agrees, public drug use will be illegal again.
It didn’t have to be this way. The plan didn’t include police doing nothing about public drug use. Police have claimed they are powerless but the policy stated that if police were dealing with people using drugs, they were supposed to “at minimum” provide health information. Police could have done more to deal with open use. B.C.’s request to Ottawa in 2021 noted police “will continue to have enforcement tools” – including against public intoxication. Of concerns about drugs in places like restaurants, such actions were still illegal, being on private property. Police could have acted.
But it is clear the policy was too lax. Reducing the stigma surrounding people who use drugs is an important goal. Those suffering from addiction deserve our help, not our scorn
But there has to be a stigma around hard drugs themselves. Drugs can be ruinous. That message must be widely broadcast. We as a society don’t want people to fall into the trap of addiction, at the same time we will go to great lengths to aid those who are hurting.
It is said decriminalization needed “guardrails.” This includes better access to treatment. B.C. has expanded treatment, with several hundred new beds, but like health care in general, access isn’t immediate. Yet to hinge decriminalization on universally available treatment is not reasonable.
What’s emerging in B.C. is a stricter version of the policy, where possession isn’t illegal but open use will be policed. This is a pragmatic adjustment. When Portugal tested decriminalization in the early 2000s, it was less lax: people who used drugs were sent to a court-like “dissuasion commission” that could push people into health care.
The fact remains that arresting people isn’t the answer. A sweep of troubled streets in Vancouver or elsewhere might seem to make things more palatable for some of the public but it is not a real solution. Conservatives, federally and provincially, want the trial scrapped. That’s not an answer either. It’s just saying: let’s go back to what didn’t work.
One key lesson learned is this is a complicated policy. That means the City of Toronto should not proceed with its own trial, as it has requested of Ottawa. Given B.C.’s struggles, a single city doesn’t have the necessary resources to help the policy succeed.
B.C. is making the right moves to grapple with the issues. The easy, but wrong, decision would be to abandon the policy so soon after the widely supported change was instituted. Like many policies, it is a work in progress. A better balance is needed between public safety and helping those in the grip of addiction.