Decrim: How We Decriminalized Drugs in British Columbia

A timely, insider account of an important and controversial step in British Columbia’s strategic effort to respond to the overdose crisis.

British Columbia is in the middle of an opioid crisis. Since the province of British Columbia declared a public health emergency in 2016 more than 9,400 people have died of drug poisoning in BC–an average of six people a day–with nearly 1,500 apparent opioid-related deaths in the first eight months of 2022.

In Decrim, Kennedy Stewart, mayor of Vancouver fr...