Years into a drug overdose crisis, Canada is facing backlash against government-sanctioned programs such as legal injection sites designed to keep users alive without curtailing drug use.
The British Columbia government has walked back a pilot project to decriminalize small quantities of illicit drugs in public places in the province. Police there also are prosecuting activists seeking to make safe drugs available.
And the man who may become Canada’s next prime minister, Conservative Pierre Poilievre, has said he wants to shut down some sites where users can legally consume illicit drugs under supervision, calling them “drug dens.”
The backlash reflects growing fears in Canada over the use of narcotics in public spaces, encampments where drug use is seen as common, and the specter of needles in playgrounds. Some critics of the so-called harm reduction programs see a rising number of overdose deaths in Canada as evidence that existing measures are not working.
But public health experts worry that dialing back the programs would endanger the health and lives of drug users, contributing to even more deaths.
The problem is harm reduction and/or decriminalization initiatives are only the first step (and unfortunately oftentimes the only step taken) needed to ease the drug cris. The follwing steps, often much harder, are oten left aside: Hiring (with appropriate pay) and training professionals to actually work with the people that attend these sites, financing housing-fiest programs, offering job orientation and trainings, etc, etc. You know, all the things you need to actually STOP using? Instead of just using safely.
Why would I stop using, if my choice is sleep on the street sober, or sleep on the street and maybe don’t wake up and be done with this shit?