OTTAWA — The federal minister for addictions and mental health says it's too early to draw conclusions about drug decriminalization, after British Columbia asked Ottawa to scale back its pilot to help curb concerns over public drug use.
While adults would still be allowed to use such drugs in private, they could be arrested for using them in public. "The overdose crisis, as I've said before and I say again, is a health crisis issue. It is not a criminal one," Saks told reporters. Eby told reporters Monday that other jurisdictions can learn from its experience with decriminalization to date."There are important lessons to be learned on where we are to date, that don't need to be repeated," he said.
"We work with jurisdictions on a case-by-case basis, making sure we have a full suite of tools available to help vulnerable populations. That includes prevention, that includes harm reduction, that includes treatment and it includes a full set of health considerations," she said.More than 40,000 people have died from opioid-related deaths countrywide since 2016, when the Public Health Agency of Canada began collecting such data.