B.C. drug use advocates warn decriminalization change may cause more drug deaths
VANCOUVER — Health Canada’s decision to allow British Columbia to again prohibit the use of illicit drugs in most public spaces will cause more deaths, the executive director of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users says.
“This is a bad move for both the provincial government and the federal government,” Brittany Graham said in an interview Wednesday. “We are going to lose more people and there’s blood on their hands.”
The initial decriminalization exemption in January 2023 had called for “meaningful and ongoing engagement with stakeholders,” but that did not happen before B.C. asked for the change, Graham said.
She said her organization sent a letter on Monday to the federal Health Ministry and the Mental Health and Addictions Ministry opposing the change.