TO END A CRISIS: VISION FOR BC DRUG POLICY

Directly advocate at the provincial level for the federal government to fully repeal Section 4 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and Section 8 of the Cannabis Act and to automatically expunge any records of previous convictions for substance use and trafficking, including breaches of probation/bail related to these situations. [...] Since then, Canadian governments have leveraged the moral panics they create about drugs and drug users to justify the displacement and criminalization of marginalized groups within and beyond the boundaries of the nation-state. [...] For example, evictions are strongly linked to disruptions in drug use patterns and the use of methamphetamine to stay alert while navigating extreme hardship.14 Increased drug use and is also correlated with exposure to stigma and discrimination within the employment, education, medical, criminal-judicial, and family welfare systems.15 The academic literature on stigma emphasizes that negative per. [...] Medical institutions can create harms that parallel those of the criminal justice and legal systems The fields of medicine and public health have been complicit in the surveillance and disempowerment of drug users. [...] Policing and criminalization have no place in drug policy Drug use should not be a crime, and the development of drug policies should be wholly decoupled from policing and the criminal justice system.