Two lines of cocaine on a countertop

It’s the ‘Eve of Decriminalization’ for Drug Possession in BC

By Moira Wyton, The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

People who use drugs are cautiously optimistic about British Columbia’s forthcoming move to decriminalize possession of some  drugs, but frontline harm reduction groups across the province say  uncertainty about how it will be enforced is hampering their efforts to  prepare.

On Jan. 31, B.C. will  become the first jurisdiction in Canada to decriminalize possession of  small amounts of cocaine, fentanyl, heroin, MDMA and methamphetamine for  personal use. 

That means anyone 18 and over with less  than 2.5 grams total of these drugs won’t face arrest, criminal  penalties or having their drugs taken away. The measure does not apply  to youth under 18 or people at airports, schools, child-care facilities  and military buildings, and does not legalize these substances or their  manufacturing and sale.

But drug user rights groups have said the  change, made possible by a Health Canada exemption from the Controlled  Drugs and Substances Act, doesn’t go far enough  towards its stated aim of reducing the harms of criminalization on  people who use drugs amid a toxic drug crisis that has killed nearly  11,000 people since 2016. 

And it’s causing concern that police checks may increase to ensure people are complying with the measure’s stringent limits.

“There is a lot of  uncertainty on this ‘eve of decriminalization,’” said Amber Streukens, a  Nelson-based organizer with the Rural Empowered Drug User Network and  harm reduction worker for ANKORS West, or the AIDS Network Kootenay  Outreach and Support Society West, which serves communities including  Nelson, Trail, Castlegar and Kaslo. “The measure is lacking in a lot of  ways and what’s going to happen feels unknowable.”

Many of the concerns Streukens is hearing  from drug users in her community hinge on how police will judge whether  someone has less than 2.5 grams of the five exempted substances,  particularly now that the drug supply is so contaminated. 

And as the criminalized drug supply becomes  increasingly contaminated with substances like benzodiazepines and  sedatives, people don’t often know they are using or possessing what’s  called benzo-dope, an increasingly common mixture of benzodiazepines and  opioids.

Those contaminated substances aren’t  included in the exemption. It’s a “glaring oversight,” says Caitlin  Shane, a staff lawyer with Pivot Legal Society in Vancouver.

“If government truly believes that  decriminalization is in the interest of public health, then the policy  should be extended to all, regardless of whether the person knows about  the presence of benzos in their supply or not.”

And without knowing how law enforcement  will judge substance composition, quantities or whether something is for  personal possession, many people who use drugs are worried it will  result in more frequent street checks or drug seizures.

“People who use drugs are nervous. Will this change our police interactions?” asked Streukens.

“And people wonder ‘How will they know if  my drugs are under 2.5 grams or what they are? Will they believe me when  I tell them? Or if I have a scale and baggies to measure my doses so I  don’t die, will they think I’m trafficking?’”

Drug seizures or arrests on other charges may also continue, Streukens noted.

The Vancouver Police Department, for  example, have previously said they have stopped arresting people for  simple possession of small amounts, but The Tyee found that drug  seizures continued apace in the Downtown Eastside even when the  individual wasn’t arrested. 

“Small details really give people a lot of  confidence and leverage,” said Streukens, noting relationships with law enforcement in smaller communities are often more  complex and intimate than in larger municipalities like Vancouver.

“Things aren’t always as tidy as maybe they  should be. People who use drugs want to know their rights and avenues  for recourse and to have a safe place to talk about it.”

‘People want clarity’

Amid uncertainty about what police will  look for or ask about in an interaction, educating people who use drugs  and the entire public about the measure is paramount, said Caitlin Shane  of Pivot Legal.

Earlier this month, Pivot developed and  printed 1,000 “Know Your Rights” cards to distribute to frontline  organizations across B.C. All were claimed in just four days.

“It speaks to the fact that people want clarity,” said Shane. The cards are still available online to print or to use as a phone wallpaper. 

Pivot is also planning multiple teach-ins  for drug user rights groups, starting this afternoon with the Vancouver  Area Network of Drug Users. Interest in holding these sessions virtually  with other organizations elsewhere in B.C. has been huge, Shane said.

In Cranbrook, Streuken’s colleagues at  ANKORS East (serving communities including Kimberley, Sparwood and  Fernie) have been working to share information with their program  participants, particularly those who are unhoused or don’t have a phone.

Cranbrook-based ANKORS team lead and harm  reduction co-ordinator Polly Sutherland has been organizing information  sessions for community members with staff from Interior Health to answer  questions. 

She worries that misinformation about the  measure among people who use drugs and the public will increase stigma,  the opposite of Ottawa’s stated goal when it issued the exemption.

“If it’s not done in a way that’s  educational and correct, because there’s a lot of myths, misconceptions  out there, it won’t bode well,” said Sutherland.

The most criminalized will be least impacted

The low threshold for possession may  reflect people who use infrequently or recreationally, but Streukens and  Shane, who sit on the province’s core planning table, say it won’t  decriminalize people who buy or carry multiple days’ worth due to  limited mobility, long commutes or because they buy for friends or  partners at the same time. There are also concerns drugs could become  more concentrated to stay below the threshold.

They raised these concerns during meetings  with the entire core planning table of public health experts, police,  advocates, lawyers and people with living and lived expertise assembled  by the province to guide its decriminalization request to Ottawa, which  began in 2021.

“Those most impacted by the current  criminalization will be least impacted by this measure,” said Streukens.  She noted that people in rural and remote areas are more likely to buy  multiple days’ worth at a time.

A broader decriminalization effort would eliminate a lot of the uncertainty, Shane and Streukens said.

And news that police will hand out referral  cards for detox and treatment services for people who want them  indicates there is still this “underlying attachment to the idea that  drug use is not okay,” said Streukens.

The focus on treatment also doesn’t  recognize that not all substance use is inherently problematic,  Streukens said. Data from a 2022 expert panel report ordered by the BC  Coroners Service shows nearly half of people dying of drug poisonings in B.C. are not considered to have problematic substance use or be addicted.

They say frontline organizations will be  listening to drug users to know the true impact of the measure, which is  also being independently evaluated by Health Canada over its three-year  pilot program.

The true measures of decriminalization will  be whether fewer people are having their drugs taken away, going to  jail, losing their housing and employment, or custody of their children  because they possessed small amounts, Streukens said.

Shane is also keeping an eye on how  municipalities and workplaces may introduce policies and bylaws to  punish people who use drugs in other ways.

“We’ve had 100 years, five or six  generations of prohibition in this country, and I don’t know if one  three-year pilot is going to undo that,” said Streukens. 

“It’s a large step for a government that  has, in all known history, been very focused on prohibition. But it’s  not as bold as they’re selling it or as it needs to be.”

Top image credit: Cocaine – Photo by Dominic Milton Trott via Flickr (CC BY SA, 2.0 License)

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