Srushti Gangdev
A UBC expert on drug policy says B.C. should carefully observe what happens in states south of the border that have just decriminalized some or all hard drugs — and see how those policies could hypothetically be applied here.
© (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File) FILE -
In this May 24, 2019, file photo a vendor bags psilocybin mushrooms at a pop-up cannabis market in Los Angeles. Oregonians voted Tuesday to legalize the psilocybin for therapeutic use, at regulated treatment centres.
People caught with small amounts of heroin, cocaine, LSD and other drugs will have the option of paying US$100 fines or attending a free addiction recovery centre instead of facing arrest and the possibility of time in prison after Oregonians voted to pass Measure 110 on Tuesday.
“Punishing people for drug use and addiction is costly and hasn’t worked. More drug treatment, not punishment, is a better approach,” reads a statement previously issued by the Oregon Nurses Association, the Oregon chapter of the American College of Physicians and the Oregon Academy of Family Physicians.
B.C. premier calls on federal government for decriminalization of drug possession
Mark Haden, adjunct professor at the UBC School of Population and Public Health, agrees wholeheartedly.
"The drug war needs to come to an end. We need to have a health approach to drugs, not a criminal justice approach," he told Global News.
"And so the more examples that we can see around the United States and Canada of how drugs could be regulated in a way that's helpful to us, the better it is."
Haden said criminalizing people who use drugs has the effect of disproportionately incarcerating people of colour. It also, he said, means governments have to foot the bill for that, and can't collect taxes on the revenue of drug sales as they would be able to if they were regulated.
"Slowly the drug war rhetoric is crumbling under the sheer weight of its own ineffectiveness and harm that it does to all of our society," he said.
Read more: Oregon to become first state to decriminalize hard drugs, other states adopt recreational pot
Oregon also voted Tuesday on Measure 109, which legalizes the psychotherapeutic use of psilocybin — otherwise known as psychedelic mushrooms.
Haden called that decision for state health authorities to therapeutically provide the drug to patients at regulated treatment facilities very exciting and said it's something we should watch very carefully here at home.
"How would it be — if our health authorities started to take psychedelic healing seriously — how would they actually integrate that into their services?"
Haden said the legalization in Oregon will make it much easier for observational research on what patients taking psilocybin would actually experience.
"Normally with research, you have to give somebody a medicine, and then you have to go through a huge number of regulatory hurdles in order to do that, and it can actually cost millions," Haden said.
Read more: B.C.’s top doctor urges province to decriminalize possession of hard drugs to address overdose crisis
"But to be able to just observe, without giving anybody anything — it's given by the health clinic that's currently being legalized — so it makes research a whole lot easier and quite frankly less expensive."
Studies out of New York University and Johns Hopkins University have found psilocybin can significantly improve symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Public health officials in B.C. have strongly voiced support for decriminalizing possession of small doses of drugs for personal use, as has the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police.
In 2019, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry released a special report on the matter, which said stigma often leads drug users to hide their usage and creates barriers to accessing harm reduction and treatment services — often with tragic consequences.
Read more: B.C. premier formally asks federal government to decriminalize illegal drugs
In July of this year, B.C. Premier John Horgan formally wrote to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asking the federal government to act on decriminalization.
“Criminal prohibitions are ineffective in deterring drug use, and criminalization of drug possession directly leads to both individuals and systemic stigma and discrimination that prevent people from seeking services,” Horgan wrote.
According to the B.C. Coroners Service, 1,202 people died of illicit drug overdoses from January to September 2020 — the highest number in at least 10 years.
B.C. declared a public health emergency in April 2016 in response to the opioid crisis.
— With files from Phil Heidenreich and Richard Zussman
People caught with small amounts of heroin, cocaine, LSD and other drugs will have the option of paying US$100 fines or attending a free addiction recovery centre instead of facing arrest and the possibility of time in prison after Oregonians voted to pass Measure 110 on Tuesday.
“Punishing people for drug use and addiction is costly and hasn’t worked. More drug treatment, not punishment, is a better approach,” reads a statement previously issued by the Oregon Nurses Association, the Oregon chapter of the American College of Physicians and the Oregon Academy of Family Physicians.
B.C. premier calls on federal government for decriminalization of drug possession
Mark Haden, adjunct professor at the UBC School of Population and Public Health, agrees wholeheartedly.
"The drug war needs to come to an end. We need to have a health approach to drugs, not a criminal justice approach," he told Global News.
"And so the more examples that we can see around the United States and Canada of how drugs could be regulated in a way that's helpful to us, the better it is."
Haden said criminalizing people who use drugs has the effect of disproportionately incarcerating people of colour. It also, he said, means governments have to foot the bill for that, and can't collect taxes on the revenue of drug sales as they would be able to if they were regulated.
"Slowly the drug war rhetoric is crumbling under the sheer weight of its own ineffectiveness and harm that it does to all of our society," he said.
Read more: Oregon to become first state to decriminalize hard drugs, other states adopt recreational pot
Oregon also voted Tuesday on Measure 109, which legalizes the psychotherapeutic use of psilocybin — otherwise known as psychedelic mushrooms.
Haden called that decision for state health authorities to therapeutically provide the drug to patients at regulated treatment facilities very exciting and said it's something we should watch very carefully here at home.
"How would it be — if our health authorities started to take psychedelic healing seriously — how would they actually integrate that into their services?"
Haden said the legalization in Oregon will make it much easier for observational research on what patients taking psilocybin would actually experience.
"Normally with research, you have to give somebody a medicine, and then you have to go through a huge number of regulatory hurdles in order to do that, and it can actually cost millions," Haden said.
Read more: B.C.’s top doctor urges province to decriminalize possession of hard drugs to address overdose crisis
"But to be able to just observe, without giving anybody anything — it's given by the health clinic that's currently being legalized — so it makes research a whole lot easier and quite frankly less expensive."
Studies out of New York University and Johns Hopkins University have found psilocybin can significantly improve symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Public health officials in B.C. have strongly voiced support for decriminalizing possession of small doses of drugs for personal use, as has the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police.
In 2019, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry released a special report on the matter, which said stigma often leads drug users to hide their usage and creates barriers to accessing harm reduction and treatment services — often with tragic consequences.
Read more: B.C. premier formally asks federal government to decriminalize illegal drugs
In July of this year, B.C. Premier John Horgan formally wrote to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asking the federal government to act on decriminalization.
“Criminal prohibitions are ineffective in deterring drug use, and criminalization of drug possession directly leads to both individuals and systemic stigma and discrimination that prevent people from seeking services,” Horgan wrote.
According to the B.C. Coroners Service, 1,202 people died of illicit drug overdoses from January to September 2020 — the highest number in at least 10 years.
B.C. declared a public health emergency in April 2016 in response to the opioid crisis.
— With files from Phil Heidenreich and Richard Zussman
Oregon to become first state to decriminalize hard drugs, other states adopt recreational pot
By Phil Heidenreich Global News
Updated November 4, 2020
By Phil Heidenreich Global News
Updated November 4, 2020
A Board of Election's employee works among stacks of mail-in ballots in Linden, N.J., Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020. AP Photo/Seth Wenig
The possession of small amounts of hard drugs will be decriminalized in Oregon after people in that state voted in favour of the initiative on Tuesday.
With the vote, Oregon will become the first state in the U.S. to adopt such a policy.
When the state implements the provisions included in Measure 110, people caught with small amounts of heroin, cocaine, LSD and other drugs will have the option of paying US$100 fines or attending a free addiction recovery centre instead of facing arrest and the possibility of time in prison.
Measure 110 proposed funding the recovery centres through tax revenue generated by the state’s legal cannabis industry.
The proposal to decriminalize the possession of such drugs was endorsed by several organizations that represent health professionals in the state.
“Punishing people for drug use and addiction is costly and hasn’t worked. More drug treatment, not punishment, is a better approach,” reads a statement previously issued by the Oregon Nurses Association, the Oregon chapter of the American College of Physicians and the Oregon Academy of Family Physicians.
While some district attorneys also backed the initiative, at least two dozen of their counterparts voiced opposition to it.
Oregonians also voted to move ahead with legalizing the therapeutic use of psychedelic mushrooms.
Oregonians voted in 2014 to legalize the recreational use and sale of cannabis.
Before Election Day, 11 U.S. states had fully legalized marijuana’s use for adults and on Tuesday, people in New Jersey and Arizona voted in favour of seeing those states become the latest in the U.S. states to legalize the recreational use of cannabis.
In both New Jersey and Arizona, recreational cannabis use will become legal for people 21 and older. New Jersey will need to pass legislation to set up the cannabis marketplace in that state.
Steve Hawkins, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, said the result in New Jersey “will undoubtedly have a rippling effect in the Northeast and add to the increasing pressure in neighbouring states to take action on marijuana legalization.”
The measure passed in Arizona also allows for people convicted of certain crimes related to cannabis to seek to have their records expunged.
Montana and South Dakota also voted on legalizing recreational cannabis. South Dakota, along with Mississippi, also saw people cast ballots on measures regarding the medical use of cannabis.
The legalization of cannabis use has gained momentum since 2012, when citizens of Colorado and Washington state voted in favour of the idea.
–With files from The Associated Press’ David A. Lieb and Andrew Selsky
The possession of small amounts of hard drugs will be decriminalized in Oregon after people in that state voted in favour of the initiative on Tuesday.
With the vote, Oregon will become the first state in the U.S. to adopt such a policy.
When the state implements the provisions included in Measure 110, people caught with small amounts of heroin, cocaine, LSD and other drugs will have the option of paying US$100 fines or attending a free addiction recovery centre instead of facing arrest and the possibility of time in prison.
Measure 110 proposed funding the recovery centres through tax revenue generated by the state’s legal cannabis industry.
The proposal to decriminalize the possession of such drugs was endorsed by several organizations that represent health professionals in the state.
“Punishing people for drug use and addiction is costly and hasn’t worked. More drug treatment, not punishment, is a better approach,” reads a statement previously issued by the Oregon Nurses Association, the Oregon chapter of the American College of Physicians and the Oregon Academy of Family Physicians.
While some district attorneys also backed the initiative, at least two dozen of their counterparts voiced opposition to it.
Oregonians also voted to move ahead with legalizing the therapeutic use of psychedelic mushrooms.
Oregonians voted in 2014 to legalize the recreational use and sale of cannabis.
Before Election Day, 11 U.S. states had fully legalized marijuana’s use for adults and on Tuesday, people in New Jersey and Arizona voted in favour of seeing those states become the latest in the U.S. states to legalize the recreational use of cannabis.
In both New Jersey and Arizona, recreational cannabis use will become legal for people 21 and older. New Jersey will need to pass legislation to set up the cannabis marketplace in that state.
Steve Hawkins, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, said the result in New Jersey “will undoubtedly have a rippling effect in the Northeast and add to the increasing pressure in neighbouring states to take action on marijuana legalization.”
The measure passed in Arizona also allows for people convicted of certain crimes related to cannabis to seek to have their records expunged.
Montana and South Dakota also voted on legalizing recreational cannabis. South Dakota, along with Mississippi, also saw people cast ballots on measures regarding the medical use of cannabis.
The legalization of cannabis use has gained momentum since 2012, when citizens of Colorado and Washington state voted in favour of the idea.
–With files from The Associated Press’ David A. Lieb and Andrew Selsky
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