Canada's British Columbia makes U-turn over hard drugs

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.

GentriFriedRice,

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

Paragone,

Idiotic frame-of-reference:

2.5g of fentanyl could kill … what, ALL of BC’s total population??

moronic.

You limit it to number-of-doses, if you’re doing that kind of thing:

something like “a person can legally carry enough drugs to use for the next 4 days” or something, with drugs of different strengths having different limits.

Same as the volume of light beer required to put a person “over the legal limit” is drastically different from the volume of alcool, right?

JeromeVancouver,

I dont think they made a uturn, they did however correct the course. Drugs are still decriminalized but police will have the ability to kick drug users out of playgrounds and beaches.

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Yeah, this seems pretty reasonable to me. The problem with drug criminalization is putting people in prison for using, not kicking them out of where they happen to be using if it isn’t their property.

1050053,

These idiots try to follow Portugal’s example without really understanding what went on with the country during the 80s/90s. I bet it’s still not a perfect approach.

treefrog,

It would be really nice if we’d decriminalize soft drugs anyway. I mean mushrooms actually help addiction, and we have a lot of people struggling with addiction yet mushrooms are illegal mostly because Nixon was scared Tim Learey and other hippies would end his political career.

Which of course Nixon did himself so why are the mushrooms still illegal?

Maybe they are legal in Canada I didn’t see in the article. It only mentioned very hard drugs and cannabis as far as I could tell.

Still, I blame Nixon. He got the whole UN to back the psychotropic drug resolution so he could continue his war in Vietnam

gimpchrist,
@gimpchrist@lemmy.world avatar

God damn it all I want is fucking safe cocaine and the adult choice to fucking put it in my body

kbin_space_program,

You can still do it. Just not out in public.

Fact is that BC is being used as a dumping ground for the rest of North America's people problems

FlyingSquid, (edited )
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

all I want is fucking safe cocaine

Well you’re not going to get it. That’s like asking for safe cigarettes.

Asking for unadulterated cocaine makes sense. But you’re not going to get something that can cause chronic health issues (you can argue the specific issues but strong stimulants as a whole are generally not safe when taken regularly and recreationally) that is safe.

gimpchrist,
@gimpchrist@lemmy.world avatar

‘Safe cigarettes’ or unadulterated cigarettes, I guess, are actually a great idea… we should allow native populations in Canada to grow and produce tobacco cigarettes with no additives… I think that would be great

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Are they not allowed to?

gimpchrist,
@gimpchrist@lemmy.world avatar

I’m not 100% up on the legalities of cigarette stuff but every cigarette in Canada has additives even the reserve cigarettes, and people are arrested for having Reserve cigarettes so I don’t know how they’re legally allowed to sell the cigarettes that they do produce, but it’s awfully regulated for sure… I haven’t heard of one Canadian native group that grows, harvests, and produces additive free cigarettes… maybe they exist, but they sure aren’t promoted if they do exist

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

I’m sorry, by ‘grow and produce,’ I didn’t realize you meant some sort of mass-production for sale.

You can, apparently, legally grow 15kg of tobacco per adult per year in Canada based on this law:

laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/…/page-4.html#do…

This Redditor has done the math and says that works out to 40 cigarettes a day.

reddit.com/…/you_can_legally_grow_your_own_tobacc…

I am guessing that the additives in the cigarettes that are mass produced are, in part, necessary as preservatives because they need to have a decent shelf life.

gimpchrist,
@gimpchrist@lemmy.world avatar

Oh yeah you absolutely can legally grow your own… but I feel like natives got shafted and they should be able to grow in Mass produce them for sale… preservatives for decent shelf life aren’t necessary you don’t need cigarettes that last 40 years haha people just want it that way I guess… but I’d rather buy cigarettes with nothing but tobacco in them and throw out a couple of moldy ones at the end then smoke fromaldehyde and whatever the fuck else are in the mass produced.

Anyway I’m being downvoted into Oblivion for existing on this thread I guess so I’m going to peace out

SatansMaggotyCumFart,

You have 1-3 downvotes on some comments and you think this is being mass downvoted into oblivion?

gimpchrist,
@gimpchrist@lemmy.world avatar

I’m just sensitive today it’s a bad day don’t mind me

SatansMaggotyCumFart,

A gramme is always better than a damn.

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

40 years? I don’t know how long cigarettes without preservatives can last without going stale, but when I used to smoke, I’m sure the cigarettes I smoked had preservatives in them and they still got stale after a few months. And I doubt they’re selling so quickly they can afford to not put in preservatives and risk having to throw out a bunch of product.

areyouevenreal,

To be honest I think there are safer stimulants than cocaine. Amphetamines and methylphenidate are probably better for you. I agree with you that a safe supply is better though, and generally agree that it’s a personal choice.

By the looks of it they aren’t banning use of drugs in private spaces either. Only in public ones. Which honestly is somewhat reasonable given how some people act on drugs.

gimpchrist,
@gimpchrist@lemmy.world avatar

Yeah I noticed the in public part that makes sense I don’t need to do my cocaine out in public haha but also yeah I think I’m going to trust cocaine a lot faster than I would trust meth or amphetamine haha that’s just fucking crazy what the hell haha as long as your cocaine’s pure you’re fine.

I do about 2 to 3 g a day of pure stuff and it’s basically just a coffee replacement

SatansMaggotyCumFart,

Expensive fucking coffee replacement.

gimpchrist,
@gimpchrist@lemmy.world avatar

Yeah but I enjoy it a lot more

SatansMaggotyCumFart,

I’m just going to chalk this up to you trolling instead of using 3 grams of cocaine daily for seven years which would be about $800,000 worth and claiming you don’t have a problem or health issues.

gimpchrist,
@gimpchrist@lemmy.world avatar

Good for you? Lol I have nothing to prove to people on Lemmy

SatansMaggotyCumFart,

Sounds good.

gimpchrist,
@gimpchrist@lemmy.world avatar

And if you’re buying in bulk, it’s not anywhere near $800,000

SatansMaggotyCumFart,

What are you trying to prove to me, a person on Lemmy?

gimpchrist,
@gimpchrist@lemmy.world avatar

I just like seeing your name pop up in my notifications, Satan’s maggoty cumfart.

SatansMaggotyCumFart,

That’s nice.

gimpchrist,
@gimpchrist@lemmy.world avatar

Ur nice.

areyouevenreal,

???

I wasn’t talking about methamphetamine specifically. Amphetamine and methylphenidate are regularly prescribed for daily use. We know them to be relatively safe in sensible doses. Cocaine destroys your heart and your nose. Lookup any ranking of drug danger, cocaine is up there with meth and alcohol. It’s one of the most addictive too.

If you’re doing that much daily you need to see a doctor and get addiction counselling. Legitimately please get help before you do yourself serious damage. Unless you’re talking about coca tea of course in which case carry on. I don’t think that’s you though.

There’s also no such thing as pure cocaine in western counties pretty much. Unless you live where it’s produced you aren’t getting a pure product. Even then I would be skeptical if you know anything about the people who produce it. Go get your stuff tested at a lab if you don’t believe me.

gimpchrist,
@gimpchrist@lemmy.world avatar

I’ve been doing it that much for 7 years I’m fine. Noses still fine, doctors say I’m physically in shape and my heart is fine. I have done my research on cocaine, I’d rather do it than any other drug, and I would rather do it than drink. And yes, you can be sensible about where you source your cocaine from. Not everyone is out to murder their customer base with impure shit. Or lose money by selling people impure shit.

areyouevenreal,

Yeah some cocaine is less pure than others but pretty much anything you buy on the streets isn’t going to be completely pure. Even if the people you buy from are legit the people they buy from might not be, even the producers do dodgy shit. Do you seriously trust everyone in the chain from here to Columbia? There are websites online where you can see the results of lab testing from drugs sent in from various different countries. I would read one of those and disillusion yourself.

It’s also definitely not as safe as you make out even if it was pure. You’re kidding yourself if you think it is.

Does your doctor even know what you get up to?

gimpchrist,
@gimpchrist@lemmy.world avatar

I’m not buying it on the streets. Yes the doctor knows.

areyouevenreal,

Then where are you getting it from then? You grow and process it yourself?

SatansMaggotyCumFart,

When it’s decriminalized without treatment, mental health and other social supports of course it going to be a failure for everyone.

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