B.C. asks Ottawa to decriminalize drug possession after record year for overdose deaths
published on February 12, 2021 by Katie DeRosa and Tiffany Crawford in Vancouver Sun
The provincial government waited seven months to officially ask Ottawa to decriminalize simple possession of illicit drugs as a record number of British Columbians continued to die due to the overdose crisis, a letter released Thursday shows.
The letter, sent by B.C.’s minister of mental health and addictions, Sheila Malcolmson, on Feb. 3 to Health Minister Patty Hajdu, is months behind a city of Vancouver decision to ask Health Canada for an exemption to federal drug laws.
The letter was made public Thursday in advance of staggering figures that showed more British Columbians are dying of overdoses than vehicle crashes, homicides, suicides and prescription-drug-related deaths combined, averaging about 4.7 deaths a day.
If the federal government grants B.C. the exemption, the province would be the first in Canada to decriminalize simple drug possession…
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