Canada: possession of small quantities of hard drugs decriminalized in the West of the country
The decision of the Canadian government and British Columbia is linked to the opiate crisis in North America (Illustration image).
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Text by: RFI Follow
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Canada announced this Tuesday, May 31 the decriminalization of the possession of small quantities of so-called "
hard
" drugs in a western province very affected by the opiate crisis, which killed thousands of Canadians.
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At his request, British Columbia is the first Canadian province to have this exception, which will concern heroin, cocaine, opiates and other hard drugs.
“
We are doing this to save lives, but also to give people who use drugs their dignity and their right to choose
,” explained Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, adding that this project could be applied in other provinces.
According to the minister, “
for too many years, the ideological opposition
” aimed at considering drug possession as a health problem has “
cost lives
”.
Starting January 31, 2023 and for a period of three years, adults may carry up to 2.5 grams of drugs on them for personal use.
They will receive information on accessing medical help for addictions.
So far, the most serious cases of possession of hard drugs have carried fines and jail time.
Deaths from opioid overdoses
In 2021, the province recorded more than 2,200 opiate-related deaths, or six people a day.
In total, from January 2016 to September 2021, Canada has recorded nearly 27,000 deaths and more than 29,000 hospitalizations for opioid-related overdoses, according to government figures.
These figures showed a “
worrying increase in overdoses and opioid-related deaths since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic
”, according to this same source.
At times, such as during the first wave of the pandemic in May 2020, the number of overdose-related deaths in British Columbia exceeded the death toll from the coronavirus, which plunged the province into a double health crisis.
The Canadian province is the second jurisdiction in North America to decriminalize the possession of hard drugs for personal use after Oregon, a very progressive American state in the northwest, in November 2020. Other Canadian metropolises such as Montreal and Toronto have, they, too, said they were considering applying for a legal exemption for possession of small amounts of hard drugs.
►Also read
: Opiate crisis in the United States: one person dies of overdose every 5 minutes
(
With
AFP)
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