Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“The Canadian province of British Columbia (BC) said it will not be extending its controversial drug decriminalisation project, allowing it to expire at the end of January. The programme began in 2023 as a three-year pilot agenda. It was a landmark policy meant to help tackle the province’s deadly opioid addiction crisis, which has claimed thousands of lives in the last decade. But the scheme has faced pushback over concerns around public disorder and drug use. BC’s health minister Josie Osborne said the province is now backing off from the pilot because it ‘hasn’t delivered the results that we hoped for’. At a news conference on Wednesday, Osborne said it is ‘difficult, if not even possible’ to determine whether the programme led more people struggling with opioid addiction to receive treatment. BC was the only province in Canada to implement a drug decriminalisation pilot programme.” (01/15/25)