Last year, a pilot program was launched in a Canadian province allowing adults to carry up to 2.5 grams of hard drugs for personal use. Soaring drug use in public spaces has raised concerns over public safety.
The Canadian province of British Columbia is reversing its policy of allowing the open use of hard drugs in public.
Premier David Eby said Friday that police will soon have the power again to enforce drug use laws in all public places, including hospitals, restaurants, parks, and beaches.
It brings to an end a much-criticized pilot program that allowed the personal use of some illegal drugs, including cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA, heroin, morphine, and fentanyl.
The program launched in January last year, to remove the stigma associated with drug use that keeps people from seeking help, was supposed to run for three years.
I have been living in Vancouver’s downtown east side (de facto epicentre of drug use) for nearly a decade and this is the first I’ve heard of the programme. If it’s been on for a while there’s been no change. If it get reversed there will still be no change