“2.5 g, I could do that before noon”: a qualitative study on people who use drugs’ perspectives on the impacts of British Columbia’s decriminalization of illegal drugs threshold limit

Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy

Research

Matthew Bonn¹  Daniel Werb²  Farihah Ali³  Cayley Russell³  Jürgen Rehm⁴  Alissa Greer⁵ 

[1] Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugs, 102-68 Highfield Park Drive, B3A 1X4, Dartmouth, NS, Canada;Centre On Drug Policy Evaluation, Unity Health Toronto, 209 Victoria St, Toronto, ON, Canada;Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada;Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health, University of California San Diego School of Medicine, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA, USA;Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, 33 Usrula Frank St., M5S 2S1, Toronto, ON, Canada;Ontario Node, Canadian Research Initiative in Substance Misuse (CRISM), 33 Ursula Franklin St., M5S 2S1, Toronto, ON, Canada;Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, 33 Usrula Frank St., M5S 2S1, Toronto, ON, Canada;Ontario Node, Canadian Research Initiative in Substance Misuse (CRISM), 33 Ursula Franklin St., M5S 2S1, Toronto, ON, Canada;Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugs, 102-68 Highfield Park Drive, B3A 1X4, Dartmouth, NS, Canada;Department of PsychiatryDalla Lana School of Public Health, &Institute of Medical Science (IMS), University of Toronto, 1 King’s College Circle, M5S 1A8, Toronto, ON, Canada;Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), 1001 Queen St. West, M6J 1H4, Toronto, ON, Canada;Institut Für Klinische Psychologie Und Psychotherapie, Technische Universität Dresden, Chemnitzer Str. 46, 01187, Dresden, Germany;Center for Interdisciplinary Addiction Research (ZIS), Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Martinistraße 52, 20246, Hamburg, Germany;School of Criminology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, V5A 1S6, Burnaby, BC, Canada;

关键词: Opioids;    Canada;    Drug Policy;    Decriminalization;    Public Health;    Threshold Quantity;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s13011-023-00547-w

 received in 2023-02-15, accepted in 2023-06-07,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundIn May 2022, Health Canada approved a three-year exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act decriminalizing possession of certain illegal substances for personal use among adults in the province of British Columbia. The exemption explicitly includes a cumulative threshold of 2.5 g of opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine, and MDMA. Threshold quantities are commonly included in decriminalization policies and justified within law enforcement systems to delineate personal use among people who use drugs versus drug dealers who are carrying for trafficking purposes. Understanding the impact of the 2.5g threshold can help define the extent to which people who use drugs will be decriminalized.MethodsFrom June-October 2022, 45 people who use drugs from British Columbia were interviewed to gain an understanding of their perceptions on decriminalization, particularly on the proposed threshold of 2.5 g. We conduced descriptive thematic analyses to synthesize common interview responses.ResultsResults are displayed under two categories: 1) Implications for substance use profiles and purchasing patterns, including implications on the cumulative nature of the threshold and impacts on bulk purchasing, and 2) Implications of police enforcement, including distrust of police use of discretion, potential for net widening and jurisdictional discrepancies in enforcing the threshold. Results illustrate the need for the decriminalization policy to consider diversity in consumption patterns and frequency of use among people who use drugs, the inclination to purchase larger quantities of substances for reduced costs and to guarantee a safe and available supply, and the role police will play in delineating between possession for personal use or trafficking purposes.ConclusionsThe findings underscore the importance of monitoring the impact of the threshold on people who use drugs and whether it is countering the goals of the policy. Consultations with people who use drugs can help policymakers understand the challenges they may face when trying to abide by this threshold.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2023