an exemption
On Monday, the Canadian Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, Carolyn Bennett, confirmed the adoption of an exemption to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act in British Columbia. This three-year pilot project decriminalizes the possession of less than 2.5 grams of four drugs: opioids, crack and cocaine powder, methamphetamine and ecstasy. The people concerned will not be arrested or charged and will be able to keep their substances.
A good thing ?
Yes, says Jean-François Mary, director of CACTUS Montreal. “It’s a step forward because we are in a repressive system in which everything related to illicit substances is illegal,” he says. Any regulation of this legislation is an improvement, he said. Mr. Mary believes that criminalization pushes people further into a spiral that leads to marginalization. But decriminalization does not solve everything. It must be accompanied by better supervision.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Jean-François Mary, General Manager of CACTUS Montreal
What should be done ?
According to Mr. Mary, we must be more flexible both on the quantity permitted and on the substances tolerated. And add to that safe supply programs. Because one of the problems with the products on the market is that they are contaminated, especially with benzodiazepines (like Xanax), which are very dangerous. “We must replace contaminated substances with substances whose content, dosage and concentration we know,” he said.
A kind of nationalization of hard drugs?
Rest assured, we will not find heroin or fentanyl at the convenience store, says Jean-Sébastien Fallu, professor at the School of Psychoeducation at the University of Montreal and researcher at the University Institute on Addictions . But the state must be there, he believes. “How do we want to regulate the production, distribution, sale and consumption of drugs? There are three possibilities: the state, the criminal market or the multinationals. For the people in the case, the answer is obvious: the state. »
An example of supervision, then?
“You have to think of different models for different substances,” continues Jean-Sébastien Fallu. Let’s think of supervision by a doctor giving access to drugs of pharmaceutical quality and follow-up. It would already be much better than now. »
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Jean-Sébastien Fallu, professor at the School of Psychoeducation at the University of Montreal
Canada: 32,000 victims since 2016
Because right now it’s not okay. According to Health Canada, the country recorded 3,556 apparent opioid-related deaths between January and June 2022. An average of 20 per day, while there were 8 per day in 2016 and 12 in 2018. Still in the first six months of 2022, 90% of deaths were recorded in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario, and 76% involved fentanyl. Between January 2016 and June 2022, 32,632 deaths apparently linked to opioid poisoning were recorded.
2,231 dead in Quebec in less than five years
From 2018 to 2022, Quebec recorded 2,231 deaths related to opioid and other drug poisoning, according to the National Institute of Public Health (INSPQ). This excludes data from the last quarter of 2022. However, the end of the last year was very tough, according to Jean-François Mary. “We don’t have the numbers yet, but December 2022 is probably one of the deadliest months Montreal has ever seen,” he said. These are things that we have observed and shared with our interlocutors. »
Does Quebec want to move towards decriminalization?
“Such a project is not envisaged for the moment in Quebec, but we will closely follow the experience of British Columbia”, answers Élisabeth Gosselin, press secretary for the Quebec Minister of Justice, Simon Jolin-Barrette. “At the same time, we continue to work closely with community organizations. The Government of Quebec has granted tens of millions of dollars to community resources and for the deployment of the strategy to prevent opioid overdoses. »
But money is getting scarcer…
This is what Jean-François Mary remarks and deplores. “In terms of service funding, we are not in a very good situation,” he says. With the funding granted to us, we will have to reduce the hours. While community organizations are the only ones to set up actions such as supervised consumption rooms. »
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- British Columbia is the Canadian province hardest hit by the opioid crisis. In 2021, 2,267 people died from overdoses, the highest number of deaths recorded in a calendar year in any province.
source: health canada