The Canadian federal government on Tuesday sanctioned a broad drug decriminalization experiment in one of the country\u2019s largest provinces, making it so police will not be able to make arrests, issue citations or even seize four currently illicit substances in cases of low-level possession.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a bold harm reduction policy that will take effect starting on January 31, 2023 and last until at least January 31, 2026 in British Columbia (B.C.), the fourth largest Canadian province by population.<\/p>\n
The federal Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health gave the green light to the three-year exception to the country\u2019s drug code, with the intent of destigmatizing substance misuse and encouraging treatment as an alternative to punitive criminal penalties for low-level possession.<\/p>\n
Starting in 2023, people caught with up to 2.5 grams of certain illicit drugs\u2014including opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine and MDMA\u2014will not be criminalized. B.C. officials had propose setting the possession threshold to 4.5 grams, but the governments reached a compromise<\/a>.<\/p>\n (2\/4) The exemption granted from Jan. 31, 2023 to Jan. 31, 2026, means that adults 18+ in BC will no longer be arrested or charged for the personal possession of up to 2.5g of cocaine, meth, MDMA and opioids for personal use. Some exceptions apply. https:\/\/t.co\/viHVKBtLja<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Health Canada and PHAC (@GovCanHealth) May 31, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Officials said that the plan is to bring in a coalition of regulators, health professionals, people with experience with substance misuse and more to monitor the efficacy of the policy change over time.<\/p>\n \u201cThe shocking number of lives lost to the overdose crisis requires bold actions and significant policy change,\u201d Carolyn Bennett, federal Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health, said<\/a> in a press release. \u201cI have thoroughly reviewed and carefully considered both the public health and public safety impacts of this request.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEliminating criminal penalties for those carrying small amounts of illicit drugs for personal use will reduce stigma and harm and provide another tool for British Columbia to end the overdose crisis,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n The government stressed that controlled substances would not be legalized, per se. It\u2019s just a matter of taking an alternative approach to criminalization, which experts and advocates say does little to minimize overdoses and makes people suffering from addiction from seeking out treatment.<\/p>\n (4\/4) Additionally, #GoC<\/a> announced $11.78M in funding for 14 projects in BC to address and prevent substance related harms and to help save lives. https:\/\/t.co\/SSP6cAOc3Q<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Health Canada and PHAC (@GovCanHealth) May 31, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n \u201cSubstance use is a public health issue, not a criminal one,\u201d Sheila Malcolmson, B.C.\u2019s Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, said<\/a>. \u201cBy decriminalizing people who use drugs, we will break down the stigma that stops people from accessing life-saving support and services.\u201d<\/p>\n The overdose epidemic has forced a conversation about what kind of strategies might more effectively drive down preventable deaths and raised international attention to the types of harm reduction services that advocates have been promoting. Canadian health officials and lawmakers are increasingly amenable to supporting policies such as increasing access to needle exchange programs and the overdose-reversal drug naloxone, for example.<\/p>\n \u201cDecriminalizing possession of drugs is an historic, brave, and groundbreaking step in the fight to save lives from the poison drug crisis,\u201d Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart said. \u201cToday marks a fundamental rethinking of drug policy that favours healthcare over handcuffs and I could not be more proud of the leadership shown here by the Governments of Canada and British Columbia.\u201d<\/p>\n Today is a momentous day.<\/p>\n The agreement between the Governments of Canada and BC to #decriminalize<\/a> possession of drugs is an historic, brave, and groundbreaking step in the fight to save lives from the poison drug crisis.<\/p>\n I could not be more proud.#cdnpoli<\/a> #vanpoli<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/Z290uuo8Uy<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Kennedy Stewart (@kennedystewart) May 31, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n \u201cDecriminalization marks a fundamental rethinking of drug policy that favours healthcare over handcuffs,\u201d he reiterated in a tweet. \u201cAnd this is just a start. A ceiling, not a floor. We are only here today thanks to the tireless advocacy of people with lives experience. Thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n Thank you as well to all the advocates and experts who helped shape this work through the Mayor\u2019s Overdose Emergency Task Force.<\/p>\n They include @VancouverPD<\/a>\u2019s @ChiefPalmer<\/a> & @VCHhealthcare<\/a> Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Patricia Daly.<\/p>\n It\u2019s time to break the cycle & save lives.<\/p>\n \u2014 Kennedy Stewart (@kennedystewart) May 31, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Vancouver in particularly has been at the cutting edge of promoting harm reduction policies, opening its first supervised consumption site where people can use currently illegal drugs in a medically supervised environment in 2003, for example.<\/p>\n Officials in other jurisdictions throughout Canada have also expressed interest in receiving a decriminalization exception from the federal government, but B.C. is the first to be approved.<\/p>\n Over in the U.S., while the Biden administration has stressed its interest in taking a public health approach to substance misuse issues and the overdose epidemic, implementing such programs has been slower to come, and many drugs remain strictly criminalized under federal statute with clear pathways for jurisdictions exceptions.<\/p>\n That said, the first supervised consumption sites did open in New York City late last year<\/a>, with city officials highlighting the early results that they are already saving lives<\/a>. The Justice Department under Trump sued a Philadelphia non-profit<\/a> that previously tried to open such a facility, and while that litigation is still ongoing, there have been signals that the administration may take an open-minded approach.<\/p>\n Advocates said this month that talks with the Justice Department over the establishment of safe drug consumption sites have been \u201cproductive,\u201d prompting them to agree on another extension of the deadline<\/a> for the Biden administration to make clear its stance in the Trump administration-initiated legal case concerning the harm reduction facilities.<\/p>\n \u201cWe believe that an eventual settlement will be part of the DOJ\u2019s approach to harm reduction and will clear a path for entities across the U.S. to provide overdose prevention services,\u201d the non-profit Safehouse said in a recent legal filing on the case.<\/p>\n That filing doesn\u2019t just say that the parties agreed to the extension; it also includes new language about the status of the discussions and the Justice Department\u2019s stated position on promoting harm reduction to mitigate the overdose crisis.<\/p>\n The parties are \u201caddressing a novel and complex subject matter,\u201d the joint filing from the government and Safehouse\u2019s attorneys says, also adding that the talks \u201ccontinue to be productive.\u201d<\/p>\n The filing references\u00a0a February statement from DOJ<\/a>\u00a0regarding its ongoing work in \u201cevaluating supervised consumption sites, including discussions with state and local regulators about appropriate guardrails for such sites, as part of an overall approach to harm reduction and public safety.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThose discussions have continued, and the United States believes additional time is necessary to permit careful consideration of the government\u2019s harm reduction and public safety goals,\u201d the recent scheduling order says.<\/p>\n A poll released in April found that a majority of Americans (64 percent)\u00a0support allowing safe consumption sites<\/a>.<\/p>\n While the Biden administration has yet to take a specific position on policy proposals to authorize safe consumption facilities, the National Institutes of Health (NIH)\u00a0put out a pair of requests for applications<\/a>\u00a0(RFAs) in December for an effort that will provide funding for efforts to investigate how that and other harm reduction policies could help address the drug crisis.<\/p>\n National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Director Nora Volkow has repeatedly expressed concerns about the harms caused by the criminalization of drug possession, and she told Marijuana Moment in an interview last year that she is open to continuing to explore \u201chow these support systems as a community can help people, for example, engage in treatment, how they can prevent them from getting infected from HIV and how they can\u00a0prevent them from overdosing and dying<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Activists in several cities have attempted to establish harm reduction centers in recent years, citing promising results from programs that have been put into place in other countries like Canada and Australia.<\/p>\n In October, the Supreme Court\u00a0rejected a request to hear a case<\/a>\u00a0on the legality of establishing the Safehouse facilities, but the case is still before a lower federal court.<\/p>\n The White House drug czar, Rahul Gupta, recently said that it\u2019s\u00a0critical to explore \u201cany and every option\u201d to reduce overdose deaths, and that\u00a0could include allowing safe consumption sites<\/a>\u00a0for illegal substances if the evidence supports their efficacy.<\/p>\n The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) director previously said that he couldn\u2019t talk about the harm reduction centers due to the ongoing litigation related to Safehouse, but he seemed more open to the possibility in an interview with CNN late last year.<\/p>\n The secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Xavier Bacerra, also recently signaled that the Biden administration would not move to block the establishment safe injection sites, stressing that \u201cwe are literally trying to give users a lifeline.\u201d<\/p>\n But a department spokesperson\u00a0later walked those remarks back<\/a>, stating that \u201cHHS does not have a position on supervised consumption sites\u201d and the \u201cissue is a matter of ongoing litigation.\u201d In any case, it would be up to DOJ to decide whether to pursue operators of the facilities under the Controlled Substances Act.<\/p>\n Bacerra was among eight top state law enforcement officials who\u00a0filed\u00a0an amicus brief\u00a0in support of the Safehouse\u2019s safe injection site plan<\/a>\u00a0when he served as California\u2019s attorney general.<\/p>\n A coalition of 80 current and former prosecutors and law enforcement officials\u2014including one who is Biden\u2019s pick for U.S. attorney of Massachusetts\u2014previously filed a brief urging the Supreme Court to\u00a0take up Safehouse\u2019s safe consumption case<\/a>.<\/p>\n While New York City is the first to open the harm reduction centers, the governor of Rhode Island did sign a historic bill in July to\u00a0establish a safe consumption site pilot program<\/a>.<\/p>\n Massachusetts lawmakers\u00a0advanced similar legislation last year<\/a>, but it was not ultimately enacted.<\/p>\n A similar harm reduction bill in California, sponsored by Sen. Scott Wiener (D), was approved in the state Senate in April, but further action has been delayed, though a committee hearing is expected next week.<\/p>\n Minnesota Democratic Operatives Accused Of Plotting To Change Marijuana Party Name To \u2018MAGA\u2019 Party To Siphon GOP Votes<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Canadian Government Approves Drug Decriminalization Pilot Program In British Columbia<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The Canadian federal government on Tuesday sanctioned a broad drug decriminalization experiment in one of the country\u2019s largest provinces, making it so police will not be able to make arrests, issue citations or even seize four currently illicit substances in cases of low-level possession. It\u2019s a bold harm reduction policyContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54950"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54950"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54951,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54950\/revisions\/54951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Canadian Government Approves Drug Decriminalization Pilot Program In British Columbia<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"