US EditionB.C. to end drug decriminalization project, after ‘challenging’ three-year-experiment
The pilot reduced police interactions and drug seizures initially but failed to increase treatment uptake or reduce overdose deaths, with 4.8 daily overdoses reported, officials said.
- On January 14, 2026, British Columbia Health Minister Josie Osborne announced the province will not continue its three-year decriminalization pilot slated to end Jan. 31.
- The pilot produced mixed outcomes, notably that police interactions fell but hospitalizations, overdose deaths, and treatment uptake showed little change, while public and law enforcement support eroded.
- Under the Health Canada exemption, adults could possess up to 2.5 grams of specified drugs, with drug possession seizures dropping from 509 to 169 monthly before rising to 403, and 2024 amendments restricted use to private residences and designated health sites.
- Premier David Eby said British Columbia has no plans to return to decriminalized public drug use, while Josie Osborne said the pilot `hasn't delivered the results` and overdose deaths fell from 2,589 in 2023 to 2,315 in 2024.
- Experts note that Canada adopted Portugal's language without Portugal's integrated systems, while B.C. has 225,000 illicit drug users and Canada loses over 6,000 annually.
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36 Articles
The Canadian province of British Columbia announced on Wednesday that it will not renew its pilot program of decriminalization of small amounts of hard drugs, an initiative presented as a pioneer in North America. According to CBC News, the authorities acknowledged that the measure did not produce the expected results, especially in terms of harm reduction and access to treatment. The program, implemented in January 2023, emerged as a response t…
British Columbia Ends Pilot on Drug Decriminalization
British Columbia is concluding its three-year trial on decriminalizing small amounts of drugs. The initiative aimed to encourage help-seeking behaviors but failed to meet expectations, prompting the move back to criminalization. Focus shifts now to enhancing mental health and addiction care systems.
British Columbia will not renew its agreement with Health Canada to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs for personal use, thus ending a three-year program that was recognized as an innovative experience before being criticized for fuelling public disorder and for its inability to stem the overdose crisis.
What Canada failed to learn from drug decriminalization in Portugal
Read: 6 min Portugal decriminalized all drugs more than two decades ago and now records fewer than 100 drug-related deaths a year. In contrast, Canada loses over 6,000 people a year to opioid overdoses, despite some regions decriminalizing small amounts of illicit drugs. Experts say Canada adopted Portugal’s language of decriminalization without building the administrative, health and law enforcement systems that make Portugal’s model effective.…
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