Federal and Provincial Update on Drug Decriminalization in B.C.

In Vancouver, Carolyn Bennett, the federal minister of mental health and addictions, and Jennifer Whiteside, her British Columbia counterpart, provide joint remarks on the implementation of the province’s exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Part of a three-year pilot project by the federal government, adults in B.C. will no longer face criminal charges for small possessions of certain illicit drugs. Also taking part in the news conference are Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer; Fiona Wilson, vice-president of the BC Association of Chiefs of Police; Dr. Scott MacDonald, lead physician at Vancouver’s Providence Crosstown Clinic; and Kathryn Botchford, who lost her husband to an overdose. (January 30, 2023) (no interpretation)