It’s too early to draw conclusions about drug decriminalization, the federal minister of addictions and mental health suggested Monday, after British Columbia asked Ottawa to scale back its pilot program to help curb concerns about public drug use. .
In her first public comments since BC made its application, Ya’ara Saks noted that the province is just one year into its three-year pilot project, which began in January 2023.
To make this happen, Health Canada issued an exemption to federal drug laws that decriminalizes the possession of small amounts of certain illegal drugs, including heroin, fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine.
“We are still evaluating the data,” the minister said.
But on Friday, British Columbia Premier David Eby asked Health Canada to modify that exemption order to recriminalize the use of those drugs in public spaces such as hospitals and restaurants.
While adults would still be allowed to use such drugs in private, they could be arrested for using them in public.
The request came after months of backlash from residents, health care workers, police and conservative politicians about the project’s effect on public safety.
Saks said he met with his provincial counterpart on Friday and the province’s amendment request is under review.
“The overdose crisis, as I have said before and I repeat, is a health crisis. It is not a criminal crisis,” Saks told reporters.
BC was the first jurisdiction in Canada to seek the decriminalization of small amounts of hard drugs.
The province declared drug-related overdose deaths a public health emergency in 2016, and the crisis worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eby told reporters Monday that other jurisdictions can learn from their experience with decriminalization to date.
He said resources must be in place to address public drug use.
“There are important lessons to be learned about where we are to date, which do not need to be repeated,” he said.
“Addressing public concerns around public use is critical to their understanding of how to take a health approach to addiction. Balancing those two things is critical, and I hope other jurisdictions learn that lesson and don’t repeat our mistakes.”
Toronto has also requested an exemption from Health Canada.
Toronto Public Health said in a statement it is monitoring B.C.’s experience. He added that in his proposed model, public drug use would remain illegal.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford repeated his call Monday for Toronto to withdraw that request.
Ford said he spoke to Eby about how things have been going in British Columbia and said “it’s become a nightmare.”
Saks said Toronto’s application is also under review and each decriminalization application will be dealt with individually.
“We work with jurisdictions on a case-by-case basis, making sure we have a full set of tools available to help vulnerable populations. That includes prevention, harm reduction, treatment and includes a full set of health considerations,” she said.
“It’s not an apples-to-apples situation and we continue to partner and work with jurisdictions.”
House Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said Monday that worse than the fact that Saks did not immediately grant BC’s request was the fact that he did not rule out expanding it further.
The Conservatives lost an attempt to hold an emergency debate on the drug crisis on Monday, but Scheer called on the government to call one himself.
More than 40,000 people have died from opioid-related deaths across the country since 2016, when the Public Health Agency of Canada began collecting such data.
The agency says 22 people die every day from toxic drugs and fentanyl is the leading cause. Most deaths occur in BC, Ontario and Alberta.
Health officials and drug advocates warn that the situation is only getting worse, given the increasingly toxic drug supply.
During question period Monday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre pressed the Liberal government on BC’s about-face, at one point asking “what the hell are they thinking?”
Since becoming leader, Poilievre has taken aim at BC’s response to the overdose crisis. He has repeatedly called decriminalization in cities like Vancouver a “dangerous experiment.”
Petra Schulz, co-founder of Moms Stop the Harm, which advocates for harm reduction strategies like decriminalization, said in an interview Monday that BC’s decision was “deeply disturbing” and that it’s unfair that politics is being blamed for the public drug use when the province has a severe lack of available housing.
“The decriminalization pilot project is becoming a scapegoat,” he said, noting that cities like Ottawa and Edmonton are also grappling with public drug use.
“If anyone thinks substance use will go away if it’s recriminalized, that’s not the case.”
“If you don’t like public substance use, you have to give people housing, you have to give them safe places to use substances.”