BC has again changed provincial laws about illegal drug consumption in public.
This week, the province repealed an act passed last year to deal with the issue of people using illicit drugs in public places. However, Gary Begg, public safety minister, says it’s removing legislation that are no longer needed, since the terms of BC’s drug decriminalization pilot were changed by Health Canada at the province’s request to restrict open drug use.
Begg says decriminalization was never intended to allow people to use drugs anywhere they wanted. He says the goal is to make it easier for people struggling with addiction to get help, while also balancing the needs of people using community spaces, parks and local businesses.
The now-repealed legislation was never brought into force.
