B.C. Health Minister Josie Osborne announced on Wednesday that the province will not be asking the federal government to renew the exemption that allowed the decriminalization of small amounts of drugs.
This ends the three-year pilot program, effective Jan. 31.
“The intention was clear: to make it easier for people struggling with addiction to reach out for help without fear of being criminalized,” Osborne said in a news release. “Despite the hard work and good intentions behind the pilot, it has not delivered the results we hoped for.”
Decriminalization began in 2023, allowing people to possess small amounts of illicit drugs in certain places without fear of arrest. Initially, the program allowed possession in public and private places, but this was changed in 2024.
Since then, drug use and possession of up to 2.5 grams of opioids, such as heroin, morphine and fentanyl, crack and powder cocaine, methamphetamine, and MDMA (ecstasy) are all permitted in private residences and health settings, including overdose prevention sites and drug-checking sites.
On Jan. 6, Premier David Eby indicated it was likely the province would allow the program to expire.
“Let me be clear, we are not going back to the old policy of decriminalized public drug use in British Columbia,” he said. “It didn’t work.”
More to come.