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B.C. is making use of to the federal authorities to decriminalize the possession of small quantities of illicit medicine for private use, in an effort to scale back and forestall future drug poisoning deaths.
The transfer introduced on Monday will make the province the primary in Canada to hunt the exemption from Well being Canada underneath the Managed Medicine and Substances Act. If authorised, the allowable threshold can be 4.5 grams and would apply to these 19 and above.
Psychological Well being and Addictions Minister Sheila Malcolmson mentioned eradicating felony penalties for individuals who use medicine is essential to stemming the overdose disaster, which has dramatically worsened because the begin of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Substance use and addictions is a public well being challenge, it isn’t a felony justice challenge,” she mentioned throughout a press convention in Victoria on Monday, including that “disgrace and worry retains individuals from accessing life saving companies and coverings.”
Malcolmson mentioned the applying to Well being Canada was a collaborative effort that included well being and social companies organizations, Indigenous organizations, municipalities, individuals with lived expertise, regulation enforcement organizations and analysis teams.
The applying will probably be submitted to Ottawa this week, but it surely’s not identified how lengthy it should take for Well being Canada to overview the file.
Soar in deaths in 2021
Previous to the COVID-19 pandemic, B.C. had seen a lower in deaths on account of poisonous medicine. However the pandemic reversed that pattern, inflicting poisonous drug poisoning deaths to succeed in an all-time excessive.
Figures launched in September from the B.C. Coroners Service present there have been 1,204 illicit drug toxicity deaths between January and the top of July — a 28 per cent soar over the identical interval in 2020.
The coroner says the primary seven months of this yr had been the deadliest since a well being emergency was declared in 2016, and July was the seventeenth straight month wherein greater than 100 B.C. residents died from poisonous drug provide.
Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe mentioned she anticipates opposition to the transfer, however that years of criminalizing drug customers has failed to finish the disaster and the province must shift to a health-focused strategy.
“Criminalizing individuals utilizing medicine has meant punishing these which might be already struggling,” she mentioned on Monday.
“The objective of decriminalization is to scale back struggling and dying. It’s a compassionate and rational response to a well being disaster.”
In a press release, the B.C. Affiliation of Police Chiefs mentioned whereas it helps the decriminalization of small quantities of illicit medicine for private use, it doesn’t assist the advice to decriminalize 4.5 grams, arguing the quantity is simply too giant.
Final month, Toronto mentioned it was additionally making ready to ask Well being Canada for an exemption underneath the Managed Medicine and Substances Act to decriminalize the possession of illicit medicine for private use within the metropolis, following an analogous request made by Vancouver in Might.
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