British Columbia kehrt nicht zum „entkriminalisierten öffentlichen Drogenkonsum“ zurück, sagt Premierminister | Globalnews.ca

>B.C.’s drug decriminalization pilot project will expire on Jan. 31 and it is still unclear what that change might look like.

>The three-year pilot removed criminal penalties for the possession of small amounts of illicit drugs, which was aimed at reducing the stigma around drug use to encourage people to seek help, but it quickly became controversial as it allowed people to use drugs in public.

>On Tuesday, B.C. Premier David Eby said the government is still working “closely” with the federal government on the issue.

>“But let me be clear. We are not going back to the old policy of decriminalized, public drug use in British Columbia,” Eby said.

>“It didn’t work. And we ended that. So we’re in close conversations with the federal government. I look forward to having more to share soon about that.”

Just allowing drug use without funding the proper addiction treatment and help does nothing. Either go all in or don’t. You can’t half ass it.

I’ve lived in Downtown Vancouver for the last 6 years. After the province ended the decriminalization in 2024, the issue of street disorder seemed to get worse. I started to see needles and poop on the sidewalks in my area when that didn’t happen before.

My area definitely had some homeless people but they were pretty innocuous and just asking for money. Now they’re all drugged out with crack pipes in hand. There’s one well known homeless man that has a dog that he leaves wandering around off-leash while he smokes meth/crack/whatever. Again, I didn’t see this before decriminalization ended. And the stores are having more problems with break-ins and stuff like that.

I won’t say that this is evidence of anything but it’s just my anecdotal experience.

I’ll give credit where it’s due for admitting something was a failure and moving on.

À la surprise d’absolument personne

Decriminalizing drugs is one of the most idiotic things in Canadian history and a large part of the chaos on the streets. Anyone with common sense saw this coming.

It’s not really the drugs which are the problem. Many drug users manage to get clean and are law abiding citizens.

It’s a small set of criminals who happen to be drug addicts who are terrorising the population. These criminals never face the consequences for their crimes/behaviour because we’ve infantilised them under this „victims of the drug epidemic“ moniker.

We need to start taking crime seriously, keep the supports for non criminal addicts to get clean, and the situation should become significantly better IMO.

Why not end unemployment benefits for drug users who are caught? At least until they get clean. Easier said then done, I know.

For all we hear that „drugs are a victimless crime“, it fails to recognize that many drug users need to commit crimes such as theft to support their drug habit.

Damn leader of an NDP party in Canada’s most left leaning province is doing this? Heads are going to explode.

Last time I visited Vancouver was late 2024 with my husband and infant son, we stayed around Waterfront area. Walking around during the day, it’s very busy with tourists and everyday people just going about their business, but every corner it seemed like someone was slumped over or actively lighting up their pipes to smoke drugs.

I’d rather not have my baby around any of that, so until some things change can’t say I’m comfortable going back.

So is this an acknowledgement of how bad these policies were? How long before common sense makes them also acknowledge how bad so many of their other polices are?

Would be easier to just get a better govt.