Health Officer Says It’s Time to Decriminalize Drug Use

Apr 24, 2019 | 11:43 AM

B.C.’s provincial health officer has made her case for the decriminalization of people who use drugs, as a way to get control of the province’s opioid crisis.

Dr. Bonnie Henry says in her report, experts, including people with lived experience, agree that existing drug laws are further stigmatizing people living with addiction.

“The decriminalization of people who are in possession of drugs for personal use is the next logical and responsible step we must take to keep people alive and connect them to the health and social supports they need,” says Henry.

The report titled “Stopping the Harm,” outlines how stigma leads many people who use drugs to hide their usage and creates barriers to using harm reduction and treatment services.

Henry says evidence shows that criminalizing people who use drugs does more harm than good, and decriminalization is a way for law enforcement to help people living with addiction connect to the supports they need.

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“We are scaling up evidence-based treatment and recovery services like opioid agonist treatment, harm reduction measures and the provision of a safer drug supply,” says Henry. “But we need to do more. We need to decriminalize people in possession of controlled substances for personal use so that we can protect them from the highly-toxic street drug supply and curtail the mounting number of preventable overdose deaths in B.C.”

Henry is getting support for her idea from the likes of Chief Mike Serr of the Abbotsford Police Department.

“Supporting people who use illicit street drugs is best addressed through a comprehensive public health strategy and not through the criminal justice system. We will continue to target those who import, produce and distribute illicit street drugs; however, arresting for personal possession will not decrease the demand for street drugs, says Serr.

Dr. Keith Ahamad, a clinician scientist with BC Centre on Substance Use, says he sees the consequences of criminalizing people who use drugs every day.

“It fosters mistrust with the health system, discouraging people who need and want care from seeking it. Further, it creates an atmosphere of stigma towards this patient population who are regularly turned away by health-care providers who don’t understand that addiction is a health issue, not a criminal justice one. Decriminalizing people who use drugs represents a critical step in ending this public health emergency,” says Ahamad.

The BC government says at least 30 countries – including Portugal, Australia, Spain, Uruguay, Norway, Chile and some U.S. jurisdictions – are exploring, or have in place, an alternative policy option that decriminalizes people for simple possession and use of controlled substances.

Over 3,000 people in B.C. have died by overdose in the last two years, and it’s estimated over 115,000 people are living with opioid use disorder in B.C., while only a small percentage are receiving treatment.

by Corey Fischer