Canadian advocates inspired, hopeful after Oregon’s vote to decriminalize illicit drugs

VICTORIA (NEWS 1130) — Moms Stop the Harm, an advocacy group that provides support to families who have lost loved ones to illicit drug overdoses, is hoping Canadian policy-makers will follow the lead of Oregon where possession of drugs like heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine will be decriminalized.

Nearly 1.3 million Oregonians voted in favour of Ballot Meaure 110 Tuesday, making the state the first jurisdiction in North America to decriminalize possession of illicit drugs for personal use.

Leslie McBain whose son Jordan died after an overdose in 2014 says seeing support for this policy south of the border is inspiring, and it gives her hope Canada will follow suit.

“This is exactly the right way to go because people who generally are carrying illicit substances are doing so either to keep their addiction at bay, to not get sick, to not go into withdrawal. Or perhaps they have that small amount of drugs for recreational use. The pragmatic thing to do is not make them be criminals, and this is what this bill does,” she says.

“Decriminalization has another function beyond just keeping people out of the criminal justice system, it takes away the stigma. If you are a person who uses an illicit substance, and you are labelled a criminal, it’s not helpful in any way, shape or form.”

Instead of going to trial and facing possible jail time, a person in Oregon would have the option of paying a $100 fine or attending new “addiction recovery centres” funded by millions of dollars of tax revenue from Oregon’s legalized, regulated marijuana industry.

Last night, Oregon made history by becoming the first state to decriminalize drug possession! So, what is all drug decriminalization?

Watch our one minute video to learn more. #Oregon #MattersOfSubstance #Election2020 @voteYESon110 pic.twitter.com/hux4U4oUxi

— Drug Policy Alliance (@DrugPolicyOrg) November 4, 2020

McBain is critical of these parts of the measure because they require the person who uses drugs to comply with one of the two options.

A fine, she says, is something imposed on people who have broken a law or committed some kind of infraction, pointing out tickets are issued for things like speeding and jaywalking.

“That’s one point that I find troublesome. They’re not treating you as a person who did not commit some kind of offence,” she explains.

And a referral to treatment in lieu of a fine doesn’t give the person who uses drugs a genuine choice.

“Being forced to have a health assessment is pretty intrusive and is not quite going the full distance to decriminalize possession of illicit drugs,” she says.

Still, McBain says the move to decriminalize people who use drugs is a “really big step” in the right direction.

“If we consider people not criminals and we destigmatize that person, they are not going to be so afraid to use their drugs in a safe way, in a safe situation,” she says.

“It’s a big step towards our goals as Moms Stop the Harm — we want people to stay alive, we don’t want people to die.”

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In B.C., where Bain lives, fatal overdoses killed more people in the first eight months of 2020 than they did in all of 2019. Devastating records were set in spring and summer months amid the COVID-19 pandemic. BC Emergency Health Services reports close to 7,500 overdose calls throughout the province over the summer, making it the highest number of overdose calls ever recorded in a three-month stretch.

McBain says enforcing laws that criminalize possession is not a priority for many police forces in B.C., but changes to law and policy are still needed to set a standard.

“They don’t want to be arresting people for small amounts of drugs. They have bigger things to worry about, and bigger things to do. Decriminalization takes pressure off the police force,” she explains.

“Even the police that are harsh on people who use drugs, if it’s a policy, if it’s a law then they’re mandated to not bother people for small amounts.”

In April of 2019, B.C.’s Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonne Henry called for “urgent” decriminalization of small amounts of illicit drugs, outlining ways the province could achieve this without changes to federal law.

“I think B.C. is part of the way there but what we hope for in B.C. is that the premier and the ministers will decide that we can make a change to the Police Act, we can have decriminalization at least in. BC. I’m hopeful, I think we’re leaning in that direction,” McBain says.

“Watching Oregon is really a good thing and I’m hopeful that we’re going to have a change in that policy quickly, this coming year — that’s my goal.”

While Oregon’s approach is new in North America, several countries, including Portugal, the Netherlands and Switzerland, have already decriminalized possession of small amounts of hard drugs, according to the United Nations.