Decriminalize drug use in BC to remove 'shame and blame' and stop overdoses, health officer says

Drug use should be decriminalized in British Columbia, a range of officials in the province have said.

It comes as Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer, released a report designed to reduce the amount of people who die from drug overdoses.

The title is “Stopping the Harm: Decriminalization of People Who Use Drugs in BC”.

"Experts, including people with lived experience, agree that our existing drug laws are further stigmatizing people living with addiction, a chronic, relapsing health condition," Henry said.

"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."

More than 3,000 people died from overdosing in B.C. over the last two years.

There are an estimated 115,000 people in the province with an opioid problem.

Henry’s report contends that there exists a stigma around drug use that leads to users hiding their habit and thus creating barriers to treatment.

“Prohibition-based drug policies and strategies are significant contributors to the deep-rooted shame and blame associated with illegal drug use,” the Office of the Provincial Health Officer explained.

Henry added that “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."

Other officials agree with Henry, including Abbotsford Police Department chief Mike Serr.

“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,” he said.

“We need to increase treatment, prevention and education strategies to effect real change. That's why the Abbotsford Police Department is working with community partners to help people find the services they need to treat their addiction and the underlying factors that contribute."

Dr. Keith Ahamad, meanwhile, said he witnesses “every day” the “consequences of criminalizing people who use drugs”.

Ahamad, the medical director of the Regional Addiction Medicine Program at Vancouver Coastal Health, added: “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."

About 30 other countries are experimenting, or have in place, similar policies.