It turns out allowing public drug consumption was not a great idea, after all.
The government of British Columbia (BC) has taken an abrupt U-turn and is now asking the federal government to once again ban drug use in public places.
Earlier in the year, minor drug possession was decriminalized, leading to a scourge of public drug consumption in the province. Similar to certain European countries, possession of hard drugs would not lead to criminal charges if users were caught by police.
The decriminalization effort was meant to increase public safety, however, it appears to have had the opposite effect.
BC premier David Eby stated the government’s change of heart was in “response to a situation that none of us is going to tolerate, which is the situation where people feel unsafe in their parks or going to a local downtown business,” as was reported by the Canadian Press.
The Western Canadian province received backlash from Conservative politicians across the country, who mocked the province for its lax approach to drug use.
The move to re-criminalize drug use in public spaces was applauded by columnist Adam Zivo of the National Post, who has written several articles blasting the original decision by the BC government.
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