Last year the Canadian province of British Columbia, launched a landmark three-year pilot programme on drug decriminalisation. For a number of years now communities across Canada have been facing their own opioid crisis, as drugs like fentanyl become more easily available. Vancouver in British Columbia, has always been at the forefront of drug policy change, yet it has seen an explosion in overdose deaths due to toxic drugs in recent years. So the city readily adopted the decriminalisation programme as a measure to try and help reduce the death rates. But now just over a year since its implementation, that pilot programme has been scaled back, and it now means that people found with drugs on their person in public places can be arrested again. Can Canada overcome its drug overdose crisis?’ Contributors: Dr. Alexander Caudarella, CEO Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, Ottawa, Canada Kennedy Stewart, associate professor, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada Aljona Kurbatova, head of Centre for Health Promotion, National Institute for Health Development, Tallinn, Estonia Gillian Kolla, assistant professor, Memorial University, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada Presenter: Charmaine Cozier Producer: Jill Collins Researcher: Matt Toulson Editor: Tara McDermott Technical producer: Richard Hannaford (Photo: Supervised consumption sites in the DTES. Credit: Gary Coronado/Getty Images)
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Welcome to the Inquiry.
I'm Charmaine Cozier.
Each week, one question, four expert witnesses and an answer.
May 2024, two years after asking, a request from Canada's largest city is denied.
Toronto had wanted permission from the country's government to decriminalize the possession of hard drugs for personal use.
There it comes.
As parts of Canada continue to face a serious and prolonged overdose crisis, the federal government refused concern for what it would mean for public safety.
Toronto's own provincial government called the plan dis disastrous and misguided.
If it had gone ahead, it wouldn't have been the country's first.
Nearly 2,000 miles away on the west coast in British Columbia, a landmark pilot is in progress.
However, its original scope has been scaled back.
So this week we're asking, can Canada overcome its drug overdose crisis?
Part 1 a complex problem.
It rally has become the issue of our time.
The drug problem that Canada is facing, the opioid crisis, the overdose crises.
There really is no parallel in modern public health or drug issues.