Current Events > Canada trials decriminalising cocaine, MDMA and other drugs

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61657095

Canada has announced it will temporarily decriminalise the possession of small amounts of some illicit drugs in British Columbia (BC).

The province asked for the criminal code exemption after overdoses claimed more than two thousand lives in BC last year.

This time-limited three-year trial is the first of its kind in Canada.

Adults will be allowed to possess a combined total of 2.5 grams of opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine and MDMA.
While those substances will remain illegal, adults found in possession for personal use will not be arrested, charged or have their drugs seized. Instead, they will be offered information on available health and social services

In its request to the federal government last year, BC said it asked for the drug laws exemption in order "to remove the shame that often prevents people from reaching out for life-saving help".

Federal minister of mental health and addictions Carolyn Bennett said on Tuesday that "for too many years, the ideological opposition to harm reduction has cost lives".

"We are doing this to save lives, but also to give people using drugs their dignity and choices."
Vancouver mayor Kennedy Stewart said the decision "marks a fundamental rethinking of drug policy that favours healthcare over handcuffs".

The programme will run from 31 January 2023 to 31 January 2026. There are some exemptions to the scheme, which will not apply to primary and secondary school grounds, child-care facilities, airports, or to members of Canada's military.

BC declared the overdose crisis a public health emergency five years ago, and overdose deaths have since reached historic highs in the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic. Over 9,000 people have died of drug overdose in the province since 2016.

There have been growing calls for a shift in drug policy towards a public health approach from regions across the country. That has included support for some decriminalisation from a number of public health officials as well as the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police.

Ms Bennett said the scheme in BC could become "a template for other jurisdictions across Canada".

In 2020, Oregon became the first US state to drop criminal penalties for the possession of some illicit drugs.
The state saw a drop in drug arrests though there has been debate as to whether it has prompted more drug users to seek help for their substance use.

Canada legalised the use of recreational cannabis for adults nationwide in 2018.

Canada bros, fill us in...

Worked legitimate wonders for Portugal, but the conservatives hate it when you point that out.

Oh Canada.

brb going to Canada

For coffee.

Reminder that drug use isnt a moral issue.

The Spirit Molecule

DespondentDeity posted...

Reminder that drug use isnt a moral issue.

Not sure what you mean by that but it's in our best interest to help people who get hooked. Also IMO drugs like cocaine should be banned, but shouldn't carry jail time.

hitokoriX posted...

Not sure what you mean by that but it's in our best interest to help people who get hooked. Also IMO drugs like cocaine should be banned, but shouldn't carry jail time.

You two agree.

Yeah let's make it easier for drug addicts to get drugs. What could go wrong?

DrizztLink posted...

You two agree.

Now kiss

Gamerguymass posted...

Yeah let's make it easier for drug addicts to get drugs. What could go wrong?

This doesn't make it easier. It just means your life will not be fucking ruined if you call for help because one of your friends is overdosing. It also means your life will not be ruined just because you like to get high.

Gamerguymass posted...

Yeah let's make it easier for drug addicts to get drugs. What could go wrong?

They only decriminalized small amounts-- the equivalent of possession-- but not larger amounts that dealers and traffickers would have.

Gamerguymass posted...

Yeah let's make it easier for drug addicts to get drugs. What could go wrong?

https://i.imgur.com/Pczf33N.png

https://i.imgur.com/gB9e7rT.png

https://i.imgur.com/PuOgoXK.png

In Portugal after doing exactly this in 2000, but do you care about concrete reality or your own uninformed ideas?

While those substances will remain illegal, adults found in possession for personal use will not be arrested, charged or have their drugs seized. Instead, they will be offered information on available health and social services

Try harder.

I hope more provinces follow suit.

Regardless of how you personally feel about drug use, criminalizing it doesn't help anyone and will never make people stop doing it.

Criminalization only makes things more dangerous.

Drugs should always remain illegal. What a dumb-as-fuck law. lmao

The world doesn't and shouldn't exist to cater to these useless, non-common sense having clowns. I can't imagine the mentality one must possess where they actively seek out substances that hinder the only body they have.

Justifying it with a 'hurr durr i just like 2 partee!' isn't remotely a valid reason. But of course, lets give these dudes free-reign to do their bullshit in public instead of locking them up in a controlled environment where they can get supervised medical attention. God knows they can't be trusted to make sane choices.

Glad I don't live anywhere remotely near there. Because fuckin' oof.

Questionmarktarius posted...

Try harder.

We've been over this before man.

Fully legalizing shit like cocaine is a terrible idea

a-c-a-b posted...

I hope more provinces follow suit.

Regardless of how you personally feel about drug use, criminalizing it doesn't help anyone and will never make people stop doing it.

Criminalization only makes things more dangerous.

I assume that only refers to your position on drugs?

Also like how the article notes a decline in arrests after Oregon's law passed. Stunning result.

Meanwhile in Sweden its a crime to have tracable amount of cannabis in your system even if you did it in a legal country.

This is why no one respects Canada lol

Bio1590 posted...

We've been over this before man.

Fully legalizing shit like cocaine is a terrible idea

Why

So everyone is just gonna ignore the data from the whole-ass country that's been doing this successfully for over twenty years.

AssultTank posted...

Why?

Leaglizing means government can regulate purity, provide addiction services, lower incarceration rates, and tax the drugs, all leading to a decrease in healthcare costs and gang violence. Seems like legalizing is a good idea to me.

TheGoldenEel posted...

Why

Because cocaine is actually a highly addictive drug that physically destroys your body over time with repeated use. It's not benign in any way and would require ridiculously hard caps on what people could buy on a monthly basis.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

They can do the same with decriminalization.

Except maybe taxes, I don't know that end.

Vicious_Dios posted...

Drugs should always remain illegal. What a dumb-as-fuck law. lmao

The world doesn't and shouldn't exist to cater to these useless, non-common sense having clowns. I can't imagine the mentality one must possess where they actively seek out substances that hinder the only body they have.

Justifying it with a 'hurr durr i just like 2 partee!' isn't remotely a valid reason. But of course, lets give these dudes free-reign to do their bullshit in public instead of locking them up in a controlled environment where they can get supervised medical attention. God knows they can't be trusted to make sane choices.

Glad I don't live anywhere remotely near there. Because fuckin' oof.

I'm glad you don't live close to my countey too. You have some serious backwards views to think that punishing people for small amounts of drugs is an okay thing.

I'd tell you that the amount of tax-payer money used for these programs is significantly less than the costs of housing people in prison, but you don't care.

Bio1590 posted...

Because cocaine is actually a highly addictive drug that physically destroys your body over time with repeated use. It's not benign in any way and would require ridiculously hard caps on what people could buy on a monthly basis.

So is alcohol, and the fact is people want to do drugs, and anyone want wants to get cocaine can do so easily. Might as well make it as safe as possible, cut down on gang violence, and tax it

Good. Punishing addicts with lengthy prison sentences does nothing to curb use or the illegal trade.

AssultTank posted...

So you're in favor of keeping the system in place we have now where people live in fear of gangs, drugs are as likely to be cut with fentanyl as they are to be 100% pure causing uncertainty as to what dosage to use, leading to ODs and death, and incarceration rates are through the roof.

Sounds a lot like the anti-pot Republicans there...

LMAO get over yourself with that last comment man.

I am 100% in favour of fully decriminalizing it but I would never advocate for the government full-blown legalizing it and selling it like they do marijuana.

Theres also more drugs inside prisons than an average person would ever come across in their daily lives, so imprisonment has got to be the worst solution to addiction imaginable.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Eventually, sure.

This is the best Canada can do right now, unless you think the full legalization would have had a chance in hell of passing.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


What the fuck is this Stretch-Armstrong reach? lmao!

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How the fuck are you a moderator?

At the end of the day things like cocaine and heroin are absolutely not recreational drugs a la marijuana and should never be sold and marketed (ESPECIALLY by the Government) as such.

Cocaine maybe, but meth and heroin are too destructive not to discourage. Those apprehended with these drugs should not be thrown in jail, they should be sent to one of those Ayahuasca retreats and actually get help.

Good. Thats respecting peoples freedom and right to make their own decisions.

and the longer those things are illegal and running amok unregulated the longer people are going to die unnecessarily.

At least if it was legal and regulated people wouldnt be ODing on Fentanyl/poison laced drugs.

And another positive is no clogged up jails/prisons for nonviolent crimes like possessionunless you prefer your tax dollars going towards clothing, feeding, housing cokeheads

SSJPurple posted...

At least if it was legal and regulated people wouldnt be ODing on Fentanyl/poison laced drugs.

Fentanyl wasn't a problem at all, until the opioid crackdown started.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

To be fair, I did buy a hell of a lot of absinthe right after it became legal.

Questionmarktarius posted...

Fentanyl wasn't a problem at all, until the opioid crackdown started.

Laced street drugs has always been a thing though. My boys got some weed laced with pcp in high school onceand they didnt know until after they smoked it lol

Regulating these things to keep out additives and impurities will always be better than people getting them off the corner from a stranger

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

So this is the best Canada can do right now, exactly as I said.

Nice to see AssultTank doing that thing he likes to do and abusing his mod privileges in an argument again lmao. Nothing ever changes.