Modern law podcast: Will BC's decriminalization pilot beat the overdose crisis?
Vancouver lawyer and advocate Rob Laurie talks to Modern Law about BC’s decriminalization pilot and what governments need to do for it to succeed.
We're still in the early stages of a ground-breaking change in drug policy in British Columbia. For the next three years, adults will not be charged for possessing up to 2.5 grams of certain hard drugs for personal use. Those include opioids (fentanyl), cocaine, MDMA, and methamphetamine.
Some people call it a big experiment, in some cases pejoratively. But the War on Drugs was also a grand experiment that was neither based on health science and compassion nor, as some are now arguing in the courts, on human rights considerations.
The time has come, it seems, to try something different. BC's decriminalization pilot required buy-in from the federal government, and in May 2022, the federal health minister granted B.C. an exemption under section 56(1) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA).
The sale and trafficking of drugs remain illegal in B.C. and will be subject to criminal prosecution. But the goal of the pilot is to reduce the stigma and harm caused by drug use. Less certain is whether it will succeed in providing those drug users access to the resources they need to overcome addiction.
That's one of a few takeways from my interview with Rob Laurie, who in the latest episode walks us through the challenges ahead for governments in making the pilot succeed. Laurie is an international lawyer, qualified in England, and called to the BC Bar. He has spent the better part of his career working to reform drug laws – specifically to improve medical patient access to cannabis, psychedelics, and sacred plant medicines so that doctors can provide treatments for anxiety, depression, addiction, and PTSD. He founded his practice, AD LUCEM LAW CORPORATION, in Vancouver in 2013. It focuses on corporate, commercial, and administrative law, as well as licensing, regulatory, and constitutional charter issues concerning medical access to cannabis and psychedelics.
He makes for a compelling interview, so please listen on your preferred streaming service (Apple, Google, Spotify) or in the embedded audio below:
