Canadian province tries decriminalizing drugs to fight overdose crisis

Dave Hamm, an ethical substance peer navigator with the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU), weighs a piece of rock cocaine as the province of British Columbia decriminalized the possession of small amounts of cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA and opioids like heroin, fentanyl and morphine, in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada January 31, 2023. REUTERS/Jennifer Gauthier

The western Canadian province of British Columbia on Tuesday began a three-year pilot program to stop prosecuting people for carrying small amounts of heroin, meth, ecstasy, or crack cocaine, as part of an effort to fight a drug overdose crisis.

B.C. accounts for about a third of the 32,000 deaths due to overdose and trafficking nationally since 2016, according to official data. The province declared drug overdose a public health emergency that year.