Dr. Tam wants Canada to consider decriminalizing hard drugs
OTTAWA — Canada's Chief Public Health Officer believes that Canadians should be "seized" by the opioid crisis in this country, and she suggests that the decriminalization of hard drugs should be part of the thinking of finding solutions. Dr. Theresa Tam points out that several provinces - including British Columbia, Ontario and Alberta - have seen their opoid-related deaths opoïdes explode since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The situation "is getting worse as we speak," she said at a press conference on Friday.
According to Tam, improving access to a safer supply of medicines and building supervised consumption sites are among the critical steps needed to reduce opioid-related deaths. opoïdes.
But she stressed that all options should be considered to remedy the problem, including "moving towards a societal discussion on decriminalization".
Several officials and groups have called on the federal government to decriminalize hard drugs to combat this opioid crisis, including the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, the Premier of British Columbia, and the head of public health in that province, as well as those of the cities of Toronto and Montreal.
Provinces cannot get out of this problem by making more arrests, said Tam, who welcomed a recent directive from the Public Prosecution Service of Canada directing federal prosecutors to focus only on the most serious drug possession offences that raise public safety concerns.
More Dangerous Drugs
The Director of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, Donald MacPherson,points out that drugs have become more dangerous since the closure of the Canada-U.S. border. More and more drugs are being manufactured or modified in Canada.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, several injection sites and methadone centres offer more limited services or have closed. Isolated users use more toxic drugs, a deadly combination, MacPherson argues..
The federal government this week announced measures to change drug policies. A 60-day national consultation was launched on August 15 on "supervised consumer sites and services in Canada." Ottawa also announced funding of more than $582,000 over 10 months "for an emergency secure procurement project to help people at risk of overdose during the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto."
Federal prosecutors have also been instructed to prosecute only the most serious possession offences that raise public safety concerns. They were asked to find alternatives outside the criminal justice system.
The directive was issued by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Kathleen Roussel, who is independent of the federal Department of Justice.
But Mr. MacPherson fears that these measures are "too little, too late."
"COVID has made the situation worse. We are stuck in pilot projects, interim funding, or incremental steps towards something that should have happened a long timeago," he laments.
The Coalition he leads has long advocated for decriminalization that would stop stigmatizing drug addicts.
"Drug prohibition doesn't work. The prohibition of alcohol did not work. We cannot continue to claim that this ban will work if we try to push it even further. It's a fundamentally flawedpolicy," says MacPherson..
He calls for a rapid change in strategy. "We just need to get there as soon as possible,
otherwise a lot more people are going to die."
The Liberal government's approach to illicit drugs has evolved into a vision more of a public health problem than a criminal one.
In their first term, the Liberals legalized the recreational use of cannabis. However, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has rejected calls to decriminalize possession of other hard drugs, despite a resolution passed at the last Liberal convention calling for such an approach.
Health Minister Patty Hajdusaid there was no quick fix to solve the opioid crisis
and that a series of tools were needed to fully address the problem.
She says she has heard the calls for decriminalization, which the government is considering.
The situation "is getting worse as we speak," she said at a press conference on Friday.
According to Tam, improving access to a safer supply of medicines and building supervised consumption sites are among the critical steps needed to reduce opioid-related deaths. opoïdes.
But she stressed that all options should be considered to remedy the problem, including "moving towards a societal discussion on decriminalization".
Several officials and groups have called on the federal government to decriminalize hard drugs to combat this opioid crisis, including the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, the Premier of British Columbia, and the head of public health in that province, as well as those of the cities of Toronto and Montreal.
Provinces cannot get out of this problem by making more arrests, said Tam, who welcomed a recent directive from the Public Prosecution Service of Canada directing federal prosecutors to focus only on the most serious drug possession offences that raise public safety concerns.
More Dangerous Drugs
The Director of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, Donald MacPherson,points out that drugs have become more dangerous since the closure of the Canada-U.S. border. More and more drugs are being manufactured or modified in Canada.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, several injection sites and methadone centres offer more limited services or have closed. Isolated users use more toxic drugs, a deadly combination, MacPherson argues..
The federal government this week announced measures to change drug policies. A 60-day national consultation was launched on August 15 on "supervised consumer sites and services in Canada." Ottawa also announced funding of more than $582,000 over 10 months "for an emergency secure procurement project to help people at risk of overdose during the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto."
Federal prosecutors have also been instructed to prosecute only the most serious possession offences that raise public safety concerns. They were asked to find alternatives outside the criminal justice system.
The directive was issued by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Kathleen Roussel, who is independent of the federal Department of Justice.
But Mr. MacPherson fears that these measures are "too little, too late."
"COVID has made the situation worse. We are stuck in pilot projects, interim funding, or incremental steps towards something that should have happened a long timeago," he laments.
The Coalition he leads has long advocated for decriminalization that would stop stigmatizing drug addicts.
"Drug prohibition doesn't work. The prohibition of alcohol did not work. We cannot continue to claim that this ban will work if we try to push it even further. It's a fundamentally flawedpolicy," says MacPherson..
He calls for a rapid change in strategy. "We just need to get there as soon as possible,
otherwise a lot more people are going to die."
The Liberal government's approach to illicit drugs has evolved into a vision more of a public health problem than a criminal one.
In their first term, the Liberals legalized the recreational use of cannabis. However, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has rejected calls to decriminalize possession of other hard drugs, despite a resolution passed at the last Liberal convention calling for such an approach.
Health Minister Patty Hajdusaid there was no quick fix to solve the opioid crisis
and that a series of tools were needed to fully address the problem.
She says she has heard the calls for decriminalization, which the government is considering.