Monday, April 14, 2025 (Halifax) _ A new study suggests that decriminalization in British Columbia led to a substantial decrease in criminal justice involvement among people who use drugs, without leading to significant increases or decreases in rates of hospitalization or death due to opioids and stimulants.
Researchers from Dalhousie University and the Bruyère Health Research Institute in Ottawa used publicly available data on all drug hospitalizations and deaths, and police-reported drug incidents in Canada to evaluate changes in health and criminal justice outcomes in the first year after decriminalization. The study compared changes in B.C. versus the rest of Canada over the two years pre-decriminalization and the first year of decriminalization.
"Our findings showed a substantial and immediate reduction in criminal justice involvement among people who use drugs after decriminalization — an important shift that suggests the policy is working as intended," said report author Adrienne Gaudreault, a medical student at Dalhousie. "This aligns with the goal of moving away from a criminal justice response to substance use."