The B.C. government applied for the exemption last fall in the hopes of curbing rising drug overdose deaths
B.C. has been ground zero for the opioid epidemic, with more than 2,000 overdose deaths last year, ten times higher than what it was a decade ago.
The exemption will be subject to peer review and could be altered or canceled during the three years it is in place. Trafficking would still be illegal and the exemption would not apply around schools, daycare centres or airports. It’s the first of its kind in Canada, but the City of Toronto has requested an exemption and Edmonton City Council is also in the process of asking the federal government for an exemption.
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