Canadian province experiments with decriminalising hard drugs

Canada’s province of British Columbia is starting a first-in-thenation trial decriminalising small amounts of hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin.

From Tuesday, adults can possess up to 2.5g of such drugs, as well as methamphetamine, fentanyl and morphine.

Canada’s federal government granted the request by the west coast province to try out the threeyear experiment.

It follows a similar policy in the nearby US state of Oregon, which decriminalised hard drugs in 2020. Ahead of the pilot’s launch,

British Columbia and federal officials outlined the rules under the federally approved exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

While those substances will remain illegal, adults found in possession of a combined total of less than 2.5g of the drugs will not be arrested, charged or have their substances seized. Instead, they will be offered information on available health and social services.

Federal minister of mental health and addictions Carolyn Bennett on Monday called the move “a monumental shift in drug policy that favours fostering trusting and supportive relationships in health and social services over further criminalisation”.

Some 10,000 residents have died from drug overdoses since British Columbia declared drugs to be a public health emergency in 2016, officials said.

“Decriminalising people who use drugs breaks down the fear and shame associated with substance use and ensures they feel safer reaching out for life-saving supports,” said Jennifer Whiteside, the British Columbia minister for

“We had a live and let live situation in the South China Sea. But in 2012 they tried to seize control of Scarborough Shoal. Then in 2014 they began building the islands. The land grab by China changed the relationship.”

“We have very limited capability against the threat from China,” says former Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Cuisia Jr.

He says the Chinese have repeatedly broken promises not to militarise their new South China Sea bases.

“The Chinese have militarised those features and that puts more of our territory under threat. Only the US has the power to stop them. The Philippines cannot do it alone.” another Marcos is back in the Malacañang Palace.

But this time there will not be thousands of US marines and airmen filling the red-light districts of Olongapo or Angeles city again.

The history of violence and abuse by US troops in the Philippines is still a sensitive subject. There are an estimated 15,000 children left with their Filipino mothers when their American fathers went home.

More important, China is no longer a military weakling, and it’s knocking on the Philippines’ front door. Manila has watched - horrified but powerless to intervene - as Beijing has set about redrawing the map of the South China Sea, or the West Philippine Sea as Manila insists on calling it. Since 2014 China has built 10 artificial island bases, including one at Mischief Reef, deep inside the Philippines’ own exclusive economic zone or EEZ.

Up to then relations between Manila and Beijing had been free of major problems, says Herman Kraft, a political science professor at University of the Philippines.

“We have a long history of inequality in our relationship,” says Renato Reyes, secretary general of New Patriotic Alliance, a left-wing group. “The Philippines has been forced to shoulder the social costs. There’s a history of rape, child abuse, and of toxic waste.”

The US’ return to the Philippines is strongly opposed by the country’s left-wing groups.

While there won’t be as many troops as earlier, Washington is now asking for access to several new locations, some facing the South China Sea, others facing north towards Taiwan. Unofficial reports point to options in Cagayan, Zambales, Palawan and Isabela. (BBC)

Adults mental health and addictions.

Thousands of police officers in the province have been offered training on the rule change, including those in Vancouver, the largest city in the province.

The programme will run from

31 January 2023 until 31 January 2026, unless it is revoked by the federal government.

Some experts have questioned the 2.5g limit, saying that it is not enough to account for the habits of many addicts.