Why is B.C. banning drug use in public spaces?

In today’s Big Story podcast, earlier this year, B.C. decriminalized certain amounts of some hard drugs, in an attempt to combat the overdose crisis. Nine months later, the same government has introduced legislation to ban those same drugs from public use. On the surface it looks like two conflicting approaches to the same problem — but is that true?

Dr. Lindsay Richardson is an associate professor at the University of British Columbia and the Canada Research Chair in Social Inclusion and Health Equity. She says that while the province links the legislation to public health objectives, the new law is more about enforcement.

“The actual legislation really is about enforcement of public drug use, and police activities related to public drug use,” she says.

What do we know about how decriminalization has gone so far? What will the new act mean for users in the province, and for non-users who share public space with them? How will the ban be enforced, and who will it impact? And most importantly, with deaths still mounting, will it help?

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