Recently, the public health boards in Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal recommended that the federal government decriminalize drug use. It would be great—if it was ever going to happen. The inertia of a stagnant war on drugs is too strong to get moving again, much less to shove out of the way. As it was presented to the public, the recommendation is too broad and vague to motivate lawmakers to amend Canada’s drug laws without financial incentive.
It is important to know that legalization is not the same thing as decriminalization. Canada is in the process of legalizing marijuana, for example. Decriminalization would not legalize illicit drug use, but would remove criminal penalties against illicit drug users—possibly leaving only civil penalties, such as fines. Decriminalization would put the focus on rehabilitation, rather than criminal punishment.
Canada is facing a serious opioid problem. Among the worst killers in the Canadian opioid crisis is fentanyl. The drug is a synthetic opioid about 100 times stronger than morphine, usually used medically in low doses for the treatment of chronic pain. When abused on the streets, it usually comes in its purest powder form, known as bootleg or illicit fentanyl. Bootleg fentanyl can be lethal in quantities as small as only two milligrams. Overdose deaths involving fentanyl accounted for 72 per cent of opioid deaths last year, according to the Government of Canada website. In 2016, fentanyl-related deaths in Canada doubled, compared to the same time period the previous year.
To broaden legal tolerance of all addictive drugs, even if limited to opioids, is a tall order for a problem so clearly localized to a particular drug. If the government takes emergency action at all, it will be through pre-established means, such as allowing bootleg fentanyl at safe injection sites that have already been established around Canada, or expanding the number of such programs.
The pro-decriminalization argument usually cites Portugal as a model for how to reduce drug crises internationally. To splash some cold water on this Michael Moore-ish dream, Portugal is not a country where all drugs are legal and where you can shoot up in front of a cop with no repercussions. Possession, use, and trafficking are all still illegal. The only difference is in the punitive measures. Prior to 2001, cocaine possession in Portugal would likely carry a prison sentence. Now, it’s a fine and potentially a citation to appear before the local Commission for the Dissuasion of Drug Addiction (CDT). If you’re a dealer though, prison is still a threat.
According to a 2009 paper published by the CATO Institute, Portugal has reduced the spread of drug-related diseases and dramatically lowered the number of drug-related deaths. Addiction hasn’t disappeared, but that doesn’t matter—you can recover from addiction, but not from death. The recommendation from Toronto’s chief medical officer, Eileen de Villa, is that a similar administrative change should happen in Canada to combat the opioid crisis.
The prohibition effect on drugs is social. It doesn’t actually change the reality of addiction or substance abuse. Alcoholics were alcoholics before, during, and after prohibition and the underlying reasons for their addiction didn’t change. The same goes for drugs but the government is not, nor should it be, in the business of regulating people’s tastes.
Typically, the heavier a hand is when dealing with a problem, the worse the problem gets. But the heavy hand is what we have right now, and the situation won’t change without practical pressures on the government to reform federal laws criminalizing drug use.
