Has decriminalization failed in B.C.?

In today’s The Big Story podcast, more than a year ago, B.C. decriminalized possession of small amounts of certain drugs. Earlier this month, they asked the federal government to recriminalize public use of those drugs. It was supposed to be a three-year pilot, but the key part of it lasted less than half that time.

Jen St. Denis is a reporter with The Tyee. She says that decriminalization on its own, likely wasn’t enough to decrease overdose deaths.

“There’s entire swathes of the province that have absolutely no overdose prevention sites … so when we’re talking about saving lives, that’s probably something that’s not adequate and probably had to be ramped up in conjunction with decriminalization,” 

What made the government throw in the towel? Why didn’t this project work as intended? And what does this mean for other places, specifically Toronto, that are considering similar measures?

You can subscribe to The Big Story podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google and Spotify. You can also find it at thebigstorypodcast.ca.