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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Justin Ling in Vancouver

‘Gets police out of the lives of drug users’: decriminalization move takes effect in Canadian province

East Hastings Street
Canada’s opioid crisis is highly visible on East Hastings Street in the Downtown Eastside area of Vancouver, where many homeless people and drug users live in tents. Photograph: Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters

East Hastings Street in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside has long been the epicenter of Canada’s deadly opioid crisis. For years, lines of tents, discarded needles and open drug use have been common sights.

Residents of the neighbourhood have repeatedly called for a radical change to the government’s approach to illegal drugs, particularly since a recent spate of overdose deaths.

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