EDITORIAL: The obvious problem in decriminalizing drugs

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Now that the NDP government in British Columbia and the Liberal government in Ottawa have abandoned their disastrous experiment in decriminalizing the use of hard drugs in public places, the question is why it happened in the first place?

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Why did no one ask the obvious question before the federal government granted B.C.’s request to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to allow it?

That question is, or was, that “if we decriminalize the use of up to 2.5 grams of drugs such as fentanyl, crack, methamphetamines and ecstasy for adults in public places, what are we going to do when the drug users actually do it?

“What are we going to do in the face of the inevitable explosion of drug use in public places such as hospitals, on public transit, and at parks, beaches and sports fields, that will occur?”

When that predictably happened, the B.C. government asked Ottawa to recriminalize the use of these drugs in public places in the face of public fury in the province that was provoked by the impact of the decriminalization policy.

Drug users in B.C. are still allowed to take them in private residences, in legal shelters, at overdose prevention, drug checking and supervised consumption sites, and at outpatient addiction services like rapid access addiction clinics.

That plan is scheduled to last for three years, having started on Jan. 31, 2023.

The problem isn’t going away. The tribulation is the policy of allowing drug use in public wasn’t saving lives.

Meanwhile, Toronto’s public health department continued to lobby for decriminalization in the wake of B.C.’s reversal.

That was only killed off last week when Premier Doug Ford said the Ontario government would oppose Toronto’s application and the federal government said it would not act without Ontario’s consent.

Supporters of decriminalization argued the problems that allowing drug use in public created were a result of a lack of treatment programs and facilities.

But that’s not what the B.C. government said when it launched it.

It said B.C. was “taking a critical step toward reducing the shame and fear associated with substance use” in conjunction with other harm reduction programs.

Now it’s back to the drawing board.