Decriminalization: How police drug seizure, even without arrest, can create harms
International Overdose Awareness Day, an annual campaign to end overdose and drug poisonings while also remembering those who have died, is Aug. 31.
- International Overdose Awareness Day, an annual campaign to end overdose and drug poisonings while also remembering those who have died, is Aug. 31.
- Events are being held in communities across Canada, a sign of a worsening crisis that has taken more than 36,000 lives since 2016.
- The decriminalization of people who use drugs has long been one of the proposed solutions, an approach that is currently being piloted in British Columbia.
Depenalization in Vancouver
- Seventeen years ago, the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) launched its drug policy to promote the depenalization of simple possession offences.
- Local communities of people who use drugs and public health advocates in Vancouver expressed concern about the harm created by this policing behaviour.
- We undertook surveys involving more than 1,800 people who used drugs on a daily basis in Vancouver to investigate this often undocumented discretionary policing practice.
Police drug seizures without arrest
- For example, it can put people at a higher risk of drug market violence by creating drug debts.
- Amid the ongoing drug toxicity crisis, increasing the frequency of buying drugs in the unregulated drug market, especially through an unknown source, increases risk of drug poisoning.
- This is contrary to a belief held among some police officers that seizing drugs would prevent harms, including drug poisoning.
The role of police in the toxic drug crisis
- A broader question is: Are there any circumstances where police drug seizures are beneficial in preventing drug poisoning?
- A recent study from the United States highlighted that police efforts to reduce the unregulated drug supply may worsen the drug toxicity crisis by showing a consistent pattern.
- Several scholars noted that police drug seizures would not address the toxic drug supply, that the narrow mission of police may exacerbate drug-related harms and that more harm reduction interventions to address the toxic drug supply are needed.
- The annual International Overdose Awareness Day compels us to reckon with ongoing toxic drug deaths and what we can do to reverse this worsening crisis.