Episode 20: It’ll take more than hard drug decriminalization to beat the overdose crisis

Modern Law - Droit Moderne

Yves Faguy speaks with Vancouver lawyer and advocate Rob Laurie about B.C.'s decriminalization pilot and what governments need to do for it to succeed.

We're still in the early stages of a ground-breaking change in drug policy in British Columbia. For the next three years, adults will not be charged for possessing up to 2.5 grams of certain hard drugs for personal use. Those include opioids (fentanyl), cocaine, MDMA, and methamphetamine.

Some people call it a big experiment, in some cases pejoratively. But the War on Drugs was also a grand experiment that was neither based on health science and compassion nor, as some are now arguing in the courts, on human rights considerations.

B.C.'s decriminalization pilot required buy-in from the federal government. In May 2022, the federal health minister granted B.C. an exemption under section 56(1) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA). 

The sale and trafficking of drugs are still illegal in B.C. and will be subject to criminal prosecution. But the goal of the pilot is to reduce the stigma and harm caused by drug use. Less certain is whether it will succeed in providing those drug users access to the resources they need to overcome addiction. 

Rob Laurie is with us to walk us through the challenges ahead for governments in making the pilot succeed. He's an international lawyer, qualified in England, and called to the British Columbia Bar. He has spent the better part of his career working to reform drug laws – specifically to improve medical patient access to cannabis, psychedelics, and sacred plant medicines so that doctors can provide treatments for anxiety, depression, addiction, and PTSD. He founded his practice, AD LUCEM LAW CORPORATION, in Vancouver in 2013. It focuses on corporate, commercial, and administrative law, as well as licensing, regulatory, and constitutional charter issues concerning medical access to cannabis and psychedelics.

 

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