Question Period Note: Decriminalization

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The Government supports an approach that will help to divert people who use drugs away from the criminal justice system and towards appropriate health and social services, while keeping communities safe.
• Addiction is not a criminal act. It is a health issue and must be treated as such if we want to find lasting solutions.
• A long line of experts agree that the war on drugs has been ineffective and harmful for people who use drugs. The threat of imprisonment is an ineffective deterrent against drug use.
• In fact, evidence shows criminalization fuels stigma and leads to increased harms. It can act as a barrier to seeking health services.
• We also know that criminalization of people who use substances has a disproportionate impact on black and Indigenous people, exacerbating inequalities and drug-related harms.
Support for decriminalization
• A broad range of stakeholders have called for the decriminalization of personal possession as one part of a comprehensive strategy, including: Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, Canadian Nurses Association, Canadian Society of Addiction Medicine, and the First Nations Health Authority.
• This is in addition to a variety of drug policy experts and stakeholders, the United Nations, as well as municipalities and medical officers of health.

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