Good morning,
On Monday, a B.C. Supreme Court justice heard evidence that vividly underlines the wide gulf between how health officials thought the overdose crisis should be treated and what politicians were actually willing to do.
For four years, beginning in 2019, B.C. health authorities worked to create a policy that would allow a limited number of drug users to access pharmaceutical heroin without a prescription, provided they paid a membership fee to a compassion club that would source the drug.
Cheyenne Johnson, executive director of the BC Centre on Substance Use, testified as part of a continuing constitutional challenge to Canada’s drug laws by Jeremy Kalicum and Eris Nyx.
Kalicum and Nyx were found guilty in November of trafficking for having operated an unsanctioned illicit drug compassion club from August, 2022, until October, 2023. Their convictions are on hold pending the outcome of the challenge.
Johnson testified that under the plan, the two health authorities in B.C.’s Lower Mainland would operate a co-op serving up to 100 clients each.
An assistant deputy minister at Health Canada in the controlled substances and cannabis branch provided guidance on the unique logistical and operational issues, including importation regulations and storage and transportation requirements.
B.C.’s provincial health officer highlighted regulations and bylaws that would need to be navigated.
Johnson’s detailed explanation of the plan stands in stark contrast to B.C. Health Minister Josie Osborne’s news conference last week announcing her government would officially end its three-year experiment in decriminalizing personal possession of illicit drugs.
The pilot project began in January, 2023, with broad support from politicians and police, but the public soon soured, blaming it for mounting public drug use and street disorder.
The pilot was lauded in the government’s 2023 launch as a program that “breaks down the fear and shame associated with substance use and ensures they feel safer reaching out for life-saving supports.” The province’s then-addictions minister Jennifer Whiteside said decriminalization was a “vital step” to getting more people into services and support.
Under the program, people 18 years and older found possessing up to a total of 2.5 grams of opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine and MDMA could not be charged.
The pilot project was possible because Health Canada gave B.C. an exemption to federal drug laws. The exemption expires at the end of this month and Osborne said last week it won’t be renewed.
“The pilot hasn’t delivered the results that we hoped for,” Osborne said.
Her decision was anticipated: Just over a year into the pilot, Premier David Eby rolled back the program almost entirely, making it once again illegal to use illicit substances everywhere except in private homes and some shelters.
He was pushed to act after repeated stories about drug paraphernalia being found at parks, beaches and playgrounds. Opposition politicians highlighted instances of nurses being exposed to second-hand fentanyl smoke in hospitals.
Eby acknowledged unintended consequences, including a spike in public drug use.
Assessing the success of the program was unclear.
Kora DeBeck, a professor in the School of Public Policy at Simon Fraser University, co-authored a study published in the December edition of the International Journal of Drug Policy, which found that young, street-involved drug users in Vancouver reported fewer policing-related barriers to accessing harm-reduction services under decriminalization. Another, published in the same edition of the journal, found the policy led to a significant reduction in criminal justice encounters for drug possession.
But it’s hardly a surprise that after decriminalizing small amounts of street drugs, police stopped laying charges for the same. Rather, the B.C. government pledged that by reducing police involvement with people possessing illegal drugs, more people would be compelled to seek treatment.
It’s unclear whether that ever happened.
Another study, published in JAMA Health Forum in 2025, found that both safer supply and drug decriminalization policies in British Columbia were associated with increased opioid overdose hospitalizations, though not with an increase in opioid deaths.
Still, in July, 2024, three months after the province had effectively killed the program, Provincial Health Officer Bonnie Henry issued a report that called on the provincial government to liberalize its drug policies even further.
Henry’s report said that it was “imperative” to explore the possibilities of giving people who use drugs easier access to safer opioids without a prescription. She suggested models such as compassion clubs.
The government instantly dismissed the recommendations.
But Johnson’s testimony on Monday revealed just how far along the path B.C. had come to realizing that vision before public opinion and a looming election forced a course correction.
This is the weekly British Columbia newsletter written by B.C. Editor Wendy Cox. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters here.