Canada’s pilot scheme to decriminalise drugs has failed and will not be renewed, it has been announced.

David Eby, Premier of British Columbia and leader of its New Democratic Party, told reporters that decriminalisation “didn’t work”, and that it “was not the right policy”.

The three-year pilot scheme in British Columbia started in 2023 and ends on 31 January. It legalised small quantities of drugs, including highly addictive substances such as cocaine and heroin, in the hypothesis that it would better enable people to seek treatment without the concern of criminal sanction.

‘I was wrong’

Eby stated: “I was wrong on drug decriminalisation and the effect that it would have.”

He explained that instead of reducing drug deaths, it became “a permissive structure that, in the effort to reduce stigma that it was ok to use drugs anywhere, resulted in really unhappy consequences not just in British Columbia but other jurisdictions that attempted this.”

The Premier admitted that it “very quickly” became clear the policy was not working, and that the Government had already reversed parts of it. He added that studies and data on the impact of the policy would be released.

‘Unhappy consequences’

Existing data has shown that the policy resulted in more drug overdoses, and an increase of prescription drugs being trafficked.

The announcement has been met with frustration on social media, with one commentator posting: “Say it Dave, it causes death, not unhappy consequences.”

Another shared: “The most predictable public policy failure I have ever seen.”

Destroying lives

In Scotland, the Scottish Greens called for the legalisation of dangerous Class A drugs such as heroin and cocaine and for the expansion of so-called safe drug consumption rooms at the party’s autumn conference.

Writing in response, Annemarie Ward, CEO of addiction recovery charity FAVOR UK, warned: “The Scottish Greens have proposed that the NHS should prescribe heroin for free.”

“At a time when Scotland already has the highest drug death rate in Europe — 3.7 times the EU average — the solution being floated isn’t to expand treatment or rehab, but to hand out the very substance that’s destroying lives.”

More deaths, greater harm

Angus Saul, Head of Communications at The Christian Institute, said: “The Scottish Government must pay attention to the warnings from British Columbia.

“So called ‘harm reduction’ policies do not work. Decriminalising Class A drugs only leads to more deaths and greater harm.

“The truly compassionate response is to crack down on the illegal drugs trade, and help people to go through rehabilitation so they can stop using these harmful and addictive drugs altogether.”