A former federal health minister who championed decriminalization in Canada says a three-year model approved for British Columbia may not provide ample evidence to ensure the success of a policy that should have been implemented across the country.
Jane Philpott said in an interview the evidence from Portugal, the first European country to decriminalize small amounts of drugs for personal use in 2001, could not be assessed for several years after other health, legal and housing measures were also put in place for entrenched drug users.
"That's one of the reasons why doing a teeny bit in the direction of decriminalization doesn't allow us to be able to actually see what a fulsome, comprehensive response to substance use is," Philpott said. "When 20 people a day are dying of overdoses and toxic drugs and ongoing stigmatization and all of the other harms associated with illicit drug use are at a crisis point, I think it could be implemented sooner, if there were the will for that."
Canada could also learn lessons from other European countries like Switzerland and Germany, which provide safer drugs including injectable opioids to prevent deaths, Philpott said.
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