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Articles on Decriminalization

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A store selling psychedelics in Windsor, Ont. Recent police raids on psychedelics stores in Vancouver reflect misplaced attitudes toward drug regulation. (Shutterstock)

Raids on magic mushroom dispensaries are a knee-jerk reaction, but taking a blind-eye approach only allows the market to run wild

Psychedelics are an opportunity to do better than our past drug control strategies. Adults should be trusted to make the right decisions, but policymakers should ensure they do so fully informed.
People march to remember those who died during the drug poisoning crisis on International Overdose Awareness Day, in Vancouver, on Aug. 31, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Decriminalization: How police drug seizure, even without arrest, can create harms

A police policy of not making arrests for simple possession is a way to essentially decriminalize personal drug use. However, confiscating drugs — even without arrests — can be harmful in many ways.
Being in a legal grey area means sex workers are at a disadvantage when they have been the victim of a crime or defrauded. (Shutterstock)

Halifax lawsuit shows why sex workers need legal protections

If sex workers have to pay taxes and have all the other burdens of business and employment, then surely their contracts must be honoured as well.
A man runs past shoes hung on the Burrard Bridge in Vancouver in remembrance of victims of illicit drug overdoses on International Overdose Awareness Day in August 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Decriminalizing hard drugs in B.C. will help reduce the stigma of substance abuse

Decriminalization helps recharacterize drug addiction as a chronic health condition instead of a criminal activity, reduces the stigma associated with drug use and improves treatment options.
B.C. Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Sheila Malcolmson holds a copy of exemption documents that enable British Columbia to decriminalize possession of small amounts of ‘hard’ drugs for personal use. B.C.’s bold experiment will be closely watched as a comparator with other progressive jurisdictions. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Decriminalizing hard drugs in B.C. follows decades of public health advocacy

British Columbia’s bold experiment provides an opportunity to implement more balance in Canadian drug policy, and a more principled withdrawal from the war on drugs.

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