Canada Tries Ending Drug Deaths by Decriminalizing Drugs -

Canada tries ending drug deaths

CANADA TRIES ENDING DRUG DEATHS. Canada’s British Columbia had a record 2,224 drug deaths last year. So what do they do? Decriminalize the very drugs which are killing people. Now you can have 2.5 grams of illicit drugs without being arrested or charged. Already proponents want to raise that to 4.5 grams or higher.

Why decriminalize at all? So drug users won’t fear seeking help for their addiction. Carolyn Bennett holds the position of federal minister of mental health and addictions. She says they will adjust the policy “upon receiving analysis of any data that indicates a need to change.”

Well, data already exists 78 miles south of them. There Oregon started a similar experiment in 2021. Only 1% of those getting citations for possessing the targeted drugs have called the help hotline. Even though calling the hotline would cancel the meager $100 fine for having the drugs. The drugs include heroin, LSD, methamphetamine and oxycodone.

Failed experiment in Oregon

In the US, only Oregon has tried such a preposterous policy. Moreover, it has funded new recovery centers that would aid instead of incarcerate people. Now Oregon addicts can waste more money legally using killer drugs. And other Oregonians can waste more money on facilities that only 1% of drug users even call. So who profits from this? Drug dealers and government employees in mostly unused rehab facilities.

Still, British Columbia plans to give people three years to buy hard drugs with little or no penalty. Specifically, those drugs include cocaine, ecstasy, methamphetamine and opiods. How many more people will start using them knowing they will face no real punishment? Except from the drugs themselves.

We saw in Belize how decriminalizing marijuana in 2017 quickly led to a bill to legalize it in 2021. The churches united to defeat it then. And in March the PUP ruling party passed a similar bill without consulting the churches. But the churches gained enough signatures to force a nationwide referendum vote. So pray that voters here and elsewhere will say no to this “powerful delusion” (2 Thess. 2:11-12).