Decriminalization of possession of small amounts of illegal drugs for personal use became a reality Tuesday in British Columbia, but users and researchers don’t believe the change will have much immediate impact, due to the proliferation of toxic drugs.
The federal government granted British Columbia an exemption from Canada’s drug laws last May to allow users to possess a total of 2.5 grams of opioids such as heroin and fentanyl, crack, powdered cocaine, methamphetamine and MDMA, also known as ecstasy.
From Tuesday, users will not be arrested or have their drugs seized by police, under a three-year pilot project.
Dean Wilson, who started working as a peer facilitator at the BC Center on Substance Use in 2017 as a heroin user, believes decriminalization is a welcome change to prevent interactions between drug users and police.
However, he says, this should be accompanied by a bold plan to provide more people with a wide range of alternatives to toxic street drugs, which some cut or contaminate, often with the powerful fentanyl. .
“They cut their cocaine for five minutes, then they cut their fentanyl on the same scale and all of a sudden there’s fentanyl on the cocaine. And when someone who has never taken opioids takes [quelque chose] who has a little fentanyl, he is dead,” he explained.
According to him, a regulated supply of pharmaceutical options should be available in several places, including compassion clubs, to save the lives of people at risk of fatal overdose.
“There’s nothing that’s safe unless you test your drugs every time. And you can’t do that if you’re an active drug addict. »
Insite, a supervised consumption site that opened in Vancouver in 2003, the first facility of its kind in North America, is one of the few places with a specialized machine that addicts can use to make analyze the presence of contaminants, including fentanyl, in their drugs.
Take-home fentanyl test strips are also available here and at designated sites where people can test their drugs in seconds.
But despite those services, more than 11,000 people have fatally overdosed in British Columbia since 2016, when the province declared a public health emergency.
These deaths led to the policy that aims to end the criminalization of people who use drugs in order to reduce stigma and increase access to addictions help.
Other necessary measures
“If people think there’s some kind of correlation between drug decriminalization and fewer overdoses leading to death, that’s not going to happen,” said Wilson, 64, who is on a drug program. methadone treatment since last May to help curb his cravings for opioids, which he says he started using when he was 13.
Researchers and drug users say the 2.5 gram threshold is too low for those who may be forced into more contact with black market sellers as they try to avoid interactions with police . The province has asked for the limit to be 4.5 grams, while police have asked for a total of one gram for all drugs allowed under the exemption.
They say decriminalization requires adequate supports so people get the help they need when they ask for it.
In Portugal, for example, decriminalization provides for various social and harm reduction services as well as treatment.
British Columbia Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Jennifer Whiteside said the province has expanded harm reduction programs and since 2017, more than 360 new treatment and recovery beds have been opened. A safer prescription-based supply program was strengthened in July 2020, which is a first in Canada, she points out.
More than two-thirds of RCMP and municipal officers in British Columbia have so far received training on aspects of decriminalization, which involves distributing resource cards to people who use drugs, a declared Mme Whiteside at a press conference on Monday.
“Decriminalization is a historic change, but we know it alone will not solve the toxic drug crisis,” she acknowledged.
Reinforced services
Mike Serr, co-chair of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, said while the group has long advocated for decriminalization, he fears that providing more services to people in areas like northern British Columbia British is a “challenge”.
“These are things that I will monitor and it is something that the government is going to have to deal with. It’s a very important and essential part of that,” said Serr, who is also the deputy chief of the Abbotsford Police Department.
Federal Mental Health and Addictions Minister Carolyn Bennett said the plan is to divert people away from the criminal justice system and into health and social services. These programs should therefore be intensified.
Kora DeBeck, a researcher at the BC Center on Substance Use, said while the cumulative 2.5 grams is small, the fact that substances are no longer seized is a positive step for those who might otherwise borrow drugs or lint. money and exposing themselves to violence or even enduring painful withdrawal symptoms.
“I would describe the decriminalization of drug possession as an incredibly progressive and important movement and a recognition that criminalization is harmful,” she said. It responds to what I consider to be decades of research showing that Prohibition has been a failure and a disaster. »
However, the supply of toxic drugs is the main problem driving overdose deaths, Ms.me DeBeck, who is also an associate professor in the School of Public Policy at Simon Fraser University.
“I think it’s incredibly dangerous, actually, to think that [la décriminalisation] will have an immediate impact on overdoses,” she concluded.
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