Decrim Done Right!
Moms Stop The Harm, together with the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition and other civil society organizations is one of the signatories of the Decriminalization Done Right platform.
This platform calls for:
Fully decriminalizing all drug possession for personal use, as well as the sharing or selling of drugs for subsistence, to support personal drug use costs, or to provide a safe supply.
Redistributing resources from the enforcement of these harmful drug laws.
Why is decriminalization so important to us?
Most of our families are mourning a loved one who died from drug poisoning, while other member families desperately fight to keep a loved one alive or support their recovery in these difficult times.
People who use drugs hide their use because of stigma and fear of the consequences of disclosure. We need to know when our loved ones are using, so we can keep them safe, we need them to feel safe to reach out for help. But fear and stigma prevent that. Nothing stigmatizes like a criminal record. It impacts where people can live, what they can study, where they can work, travel and who might enter a relationship with them. No wonder people try everything they can to hide their use, often with tragic consequences.
We hear from organizations like the Alberta Chiefs of Police, that people are already not being arrested for possession, so there is no need to decriminalize. Not arresting is not the same as not criminalizing. We leave the decision to arrest, or not, in the hands of individual officers and we know when we allow for that level of discretion, Indigenous People and people of colour are disproportionally arrested, charged, and incarcerated. Officers also confiscate drugs, which means that the person needs to go out and replace what they had, risking harm to themselves and the community. “Not arresting”, whatever that means, is not the answer.
We also hear that decriminalization is going to fail, to that I say what we are doing now is an abysmal failure, unless you measure success by the numbers of funerals families have to arrange. From January 2016 to September 2021, 26,690 people have died from drug poisoning in Canada.
There are those who say decriminalization is not a silver bullet, as commented by our Prime Minister. While we agree, that it is not a silver bullet, it is one of the important tools we need in order to address this crisis. If done right, decriminalization will allow us to shift resources from the criminal justice to the health and social service system to help rather than harm.
We need a public health approach to substance use that includes the acknowledgement that most people who use do not do so in a disordered and problematic way but are just as affected by the criminalization of substance use and the toxic drug supply, as people are who live with what is deemed an addiction.
For too long we have inflicted harsher and harsher penalties, and what we have to show for is more dead, more people in jails, more harm to communities. Many of our members have a loved one charged, in jail or on probation. Others had loved ones die in the criminal justice system or just after their release. This system bankrupts and destroys families and does not help the people we love.
If what we do is not working, we must try another way and that is why I, on behalf of the families I represent, urge this committee to act on the report before you and to recommend to city council to proceed with the application for a Section 56.1 exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.
Criminalization of substance use has harmed individuals, families, and communities for far too long and needs to end. The lives of the people we love depend on it.
Act now and support our efforts to push for decriminalization in Canada.
A private Members Bill to decriminalize is currently before parliament. BILL C-216 is an “Act to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and to enact the Expungement of Certain Drug-related Convictions Act and the National Strategy on Substance Use Act.”
You can help by supporting this legislation by: