Poilievre calls for emergency Commons debate on 'deadly' BC drug decriminalization

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre has once again called on the Liberal government to end the “dangerous experiment” of drug decriminalization in British Columbia.

The leader of the opposition has written to the speaker of the House of Commons to ask for an emergency debate about the policy, which he said has led to "death and destruction" and "chaos and carnage in the streets."

It comes after Premier David Eby announced last week that the Province had made an urgent request to Health Canada to make drug use illegal in all public spaces.

BC was granted a three-year exemption to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act on Jan. 31, 2023, permitting adults to carry up to 2.5 grams of cocaine, opioids, methamphetamine and other drugs.

A record-breaking 2,511 people died from overdoses in BC last year.

Trudeau agreed to the B.C. NDP’s demand for an exemption from the criminal code ban on meth, heroin & illicit fentanyl in that province.

The result? Death & destruction; chaos & carnage in the streets.

Common sense Conservatives will ban hard drugs. Stop taxpayer-funded… pic.twitter.com/BkH0OkNLMB

— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) April 26, 2024

In a letter to the speaker of the House of Commons sent on Sunday, Poilievre said the policy had “failed” and Eby had “finally admitted” that with his announcement.

“After nine years of this NDP-Liberal Prime Minister [Trudeau], more than 40,000 Canadians have died from drug overdoses,” Polievre’s letter says.

“Taxpayer funded drugs continue to be handed out by the Trudeau government and these deadly drugs are increasingly diverted into the hands of teenagers, leading our youth into the destructive cycle of addiction.

“Until Justin Trudeau's dangerous drug decriminalization policy is entirely dismantled, it will continue to cause death, chaos and carnage across Canada. Parliament has a responsibility to attend to the ongoing destruction caused by Trudeau's deadly hard drug policies.”

Poilievre said that, even though the 2024 budget was being debated on Monday, “this deadly policy requires immediate attention.”

In January of this year, BC Minister for Mental Health and Addictions Jennifer Whiteside said ending the three-year trial “will not save a single life.”

"As the toxicity of illicit street drugs continues to increase, more people are at serious risk,” she said, adding that there is “no single solution” to the crisis.

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry recommended in February that the Province start prescribing the drugs that users prefer, including smokable fentanyl.

She said it was important not to let "rhetoric in the public domain … overcome the evidence that we have that putting people into the criminal justice system because of their drug use is not going to save lives and it’s not going to help them."

"We need to replace it with the compassion and understanding that I know we have in this province," she said at a news conference.

In February, BC's then chief coroner, Lisa Lapointe, was asked about Poilievre and BC United Leader Kevin Falcon's use of "stigmatizing language" when discussing drug users.

Lapointe said: "It makes me very sad. When I hear anyone in a leadership role vilifying members of our community, almost hate mongering, I think it’s really disappointing. It shows a real deficiency in leadership."

Earlier this month, meanwhile, Prime Minister Trudeau said the federal government will continue to work with BC on its decriminalization policy.

“We worked with BC on a pilot project to create a framework to support the approach that we’re doing right now … and we’ll continue to work very, very closely with them on making sure that it’s working right,” he said during a visit to Victoria on April 19.

“There’s been questions around reselling of drugs – of course, reselling drugs is illegal, and we need to make sure the police have tools to go after that. But we’re also going to make sure that we’re monitoring carefully to ensure that this project is working, that it’s keeping people safe, that it’s moving forward in a thoughtful, science-based approach that is grounded in compassion and treatment.”

Also earlier this month, Vancouver Police Department's deputy chief, Fiona Wilson, said BC is not better off since decriminalization, adding that about half of all hydromorphone pills recently seized by police have come from the province’s so-called “safer supply” scheme.