B-C has become the first province in Canada where people who use drugs won’t be arrested or charged for possessing up to 2.5 grams of certain illicit drugs starting next year, as Ottawa approved a three-year exception to federal drug laws. Carolyn Bennett, the federal minister of mental health and addictions, told a news conference in Vancouver that granting the exemption request is a significant policy change and the first step in much-needed bold action to slow overdose deaths. However, Bennett says she would not be voting later today for a private member’s bill introduced by New Democrat M-P Gord Johns that aims to decriminalize possession of small amounts of drugs for personal use across the country, saying it lacks — quote — “guardrails” around implementation. Sheila Malcolmson, Bennett’s B-C counterpart, says the province sought the exemption because shame and fear of criminalization have kept people who use drugs from accessing the care they need.
