British Columbia Opts Not to Extend Drug Decriminalization
- Gerald Kichok
- Jan 29
- 3 min read
Louise Gagnon on January 27, 2026
Source: Medscape.com
British Columbia (BC) has decided to not extend its 3-year drug decriminalization project, which will expire at the end of January.
“The decriminalization pilot project was intended to make it easier for people struggling with addiction to come forward for help,” the BC Health Ministry told Medscape News Canada in an email. “However, it has not delivered the outcomes we hoped for, and we will not be requesting renewal of the exemption…. The Ministry will continue to work closely with stakeholders to turn the tide on the toxic drug crisis and save lives.”
The 3-year project, which took effect on January 31, 2023, permitted adults to possess up to 2.5 g of certain illegal drugs (such as opioids and meth) and was an exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.
According to a report from the BC Health Ministry, the province was measuring the following four outcomes of the pilot project: the impact on law enforcement, the impact on the well-being of people who use drugs, whether decriminalization improved connections to services and supports for people who use drugs, and whether decriminalization raised awareness about substance use and decreased stigma associated with drug use that may prevent people who use drugs from accessing services.
Decriminalization Had Positive Effects
The pilot decriminalization project had positive effects for people who use drugs, said Kora DeBeck, PhD, Canadian Institutes of Health Research applied public health chair at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC.
“Decriminalization, from all data points that I have seen, was successful,” DeBeck told Medscape News Canada. “It was reducing drug seizures. It was reducing arrests. We have published a peer-reviewed article where we showed that young people in Vancouver were less likely to be deterred by police from seeking harm reduction services coinciding with decriminalization.”
In that study, which involved 319 young people who use drugs in Vancouver, DeBeck and coauthors compared policing-related barriers to accessing harm reduction services before and after decriminalization. They found a 65% decline in reporting of these barriers after decriminalization was implemented, but that decline was not sustained. In a sub-analysis of 138 Indigenous participants (43.3%) who use drugs, covering the period from June 2021 to May 2024, researchers found an average decline of 72% in policing-related barriers to harm reduction services after decriminalization.
Project Needs More Time
With respect to reducing the stigma related to drug use, 3 years is too short a period to expect the public to have a significantly different opinion about illegal drug use, according to DeBeck.
“The public perception of decriminalization is somewhat problematic,” she said. “There was not enough education around what decriminalization can and can’t do. There was a broad misconception that decriminalization was going to fix the [drug] overdose crisis. Not charging someone with possession of drugs isn’t going to automatically lead them to want to connect with health services. That kind of change takes more time.”
In 2023 and 2024, revisions to the decriminalization project limited drug use in public places that typically are accessed by children. The 2024 changes banned the use of illicit drugs in nearly all public places. It was permitted only in private homes, shelters for homeless people, and designated healthcare clinics.
BC saw an average of 509 drug possession offences per month in 2022, according to BC Health. In the first year of the pilot project until April 2024, 165 drug possession offences per month were recorded. After the 2024 revisions effectively curtailed decriminalization, the figure climbed to 403.
Indigenous Communities Oppose Decision
Leaders of Indigenous communities have called the BC government’s decision to discontinue the decriminalization project shortsighted.
The Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) said in a statement that they were “extremely concerned” by BC’s decision to end the pilot program. “We call on the province to immediately recommit to a public health approach; to work in full partnership with First Nations; to invest in the prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery supports our people need; and to renew the federal exemption while launching a fully developed and comprehensive decriminalization initiative.”
UBCIC echoed DeBeck’s criticism that the province failed to adequately support the decriminalization project. “The pilot, launched in January 2023, was intended to shift the province’s response to substance use away from criminalization and toward a public health model. Instead of strengthening and fully resourcing the initiative, the province weakened it through policy rollbacks in 2023 and again in May 2024, including recriminalizing possession in public spaces and failing to implement the comprehensive supports required for success.”
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