Kanada. Vancouver pushes a radical idea for the overdose epidemic: Decriminalization
Kanada. Vancouver pushes a radical idea for the overdose epidemic: Decriminalization
On Wednesday morning, the BC Coroners Service issued its latest grim news: Illicit drug toxicity killed 162 people in October in British Columbia.
It had been another brutal month, and one that again saw a spike in deaths involving “extreme fentanyl concentrations.” The death toll this year in B.C. is now 1,386, and likely to exceed the record deaths of 1,549 in 2018. The ravages of Canada’s other epidemic, too often invisible to most people, are especially stark when measured against COVID-19, the disease that has killed 384 people in the province.
On Wednesday night, Vancouver City Council voted to back Mayor Kennedy Stewart’s plan to seek a special exemption from the federal government to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs for personal use. (Globe and Mail, Kanada, 26.11.2020)
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/article-vancouver-pushes-a-radical-idea-for-the-overdose-epidemic