Vancouver votes to decriminalize all drugs

Last Wednesday, Vancouver City Council unanimously passed a plan to decriminalize possession of small amounts of all illicit drugs, from heroin to methamphetamine, to help stem the worsening overdose crisis in British Columbia.

Pending approval from the federal government, the city would become the first in Canada to decriminalize illicit substances, shortly after the’Oregon became the first U.S. state to decriminalize possession of small quantities of all drugs.

«Vancouver has once again decided to lead the way in drug policy in order to save lives,» a declared Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart, who introduced the decriminalization motion. «If approved by the federal government, we will begin a robust process to determine how decriminalization will be implemented in Vancouver.»

Before the city can implement decriminalization, the mayor will have to submit a formal request to the federal ministers of Health and Justice to receive a special exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Approval of this exemption may take several months.

At the same time, Vancouver's mayor announced he was writing to other municipal governments in British Columbia to urge them to file their own federal exemptions and decriminalize personal drug possession.

At least 1,536 people in Vancouver and over 5,000 in British Columbia have died from overdoses since the province declared the opioid crisis a «public health emergency».