Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow on Wednesday said she supports a request from her public health officer to decriminalize hard drugs in the city despite pushback from federal and provincial politicians.“I want the doctors to lead this. Doctors know best, not me, not the elected representatives,” Chow said. “Let’s learn from the British Columbia experience and from it, let’s fine-tune our approach.”Chow was responding to a public statement from Dr. Eileen de Villa, Toronto‘s Medical Officer of Health, that her department is continuing to pursue efforts to declare an exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act that would allow the possession of small amounts of certain hard drugs for personal use within city limits..She insisted the policy “is evidence-informed and aims to reduce harms associated with drug use, promote and provide pathways to treatment and does not sacrifice public safety.”In an accompanying video, de Villa says the application was developed in coordination with the Toronto Police Service and is but “ONE tool” to address the worst homeless and mental health crises in the city’s history.In it, she made a distinction between simple possession and the kind of open drug use that has prompted the government of British Columbia to walk back its own three-year experiment with decriminalization that went into effect in January of last year.“On open public drug use, let me be clear: lighting up a crack pipe on a playground or injecting drugs on the subway is not acceptable and should not be allowed. Selling or trafficking drugs is illegal. But arresting individuals who are carrying drugs for their own personal use isn’t effective.”“We cannot arrest our way out of this crisis.”.But opposition politicians — including Ontario Premier Doug Ford — remain unswayed. “If you allow Toronto to legalize hard drugs, as you did with British Columbia, the only outcome will be leaving the most vulnerable Canadians to a life of misery and despair,” Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre wrote in a public letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.Ford called the policy proposal “nuts” and vowed to do everything in his power to fight it.“Let people do cocaine and crack and heroin? You’ve got to be kidding me. I will fight this tooth and nail… Sometimes I wonder where people's brains are, I really do,” he told reporters in Ottawa. .He may not have to.Speaking in Ottawa on Wednesday Trudeau dropped hints that such a radical policy change wouldn’t be made without the provincial governments involved. “With regard to any other province, whether it be Quebec or Ontario, or anywhere else, we will work with the governments in place on proposals they may or may not have to deal with the opioid epidemic. That is all,” Trudeau said.The federal minister in charge of the request, Toronto MP Ya'ara Saks, said in a statement that “every request is reviewed on a case-by-case basis,” and “all relevant partners” including the Ontario government would be involved in any final decision.
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow on Wednesday said she supports a request from her public health officer to decriminalize hard drugs in the city despite pushback from federal and provincial politicians.“I want the doctors to lead this. Doctors know best, not me, not the elected representatives,” Chow said. “Let’s learn from the British Columbia experience and from it, let’s fine-tune our approach.”Chow was responding to a public statement from Dr. Eileen de Villa, Toronto‘s Medical Officer of Health, that her department is continuing to pursue efforts to declare an exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act that would allow the possession of small amounts of certain hard drugs for personal use within city limits..She insisted the policy “is evidence-informed and aims to reduce harms associated with drug use, promote and provide pathways to treatment and does not sacrifice public safety.”In an accompanying video, de Villa says the application was developed in coordination with the Toronto Police Service and is but “ONE tool” to address the worst homeless and mental health crises in the city’s history.In it, she made a distinction between simple possession and the kind of open drug use that has prompted the government of British Columbia to walk back its own three-year experiment with decriminalization that went into effect in January of last year.“On open public drug use, let me be clear: lighting up a crack pipe on a playground or injecting drugs on the subway is not acceptable and should not be allowed. Selling or trafficking drugs is illegal. But arresting individuals who are carrying drugs for their own personal use isn’t effective.”“We cannot arrest our way out of this crisis.”.But opposition politicians — including Ontario Premier Doug Ford — remain unswayed. “If you allow Toronto to legalize hard drugs, as you did with British Columbia, the only outcome will be leaving the most vulnerable Canadians to a life of misery and despair,” Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre wrote in a public letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.Ford called the policy proposal “nuts” and vowed to do everything in his power to fight it.“Let people do cocaine and crack and heroin? You’ve got to be kidding me. I will fight this tooth and nail… Sometimes I wonder where people's brains are, I really do,” he told reporters in Ottawa. .He may not have to.Speaking in Ottawa on Wednesday Trudeau dropped hints that such a radical policy change wouldn’t be made without the provincial governments involved. “With regard to any other province, whether it be Quebec or Ontario, or anywhere else, we will work with the governments in place on proposals they may or may not have to deal with the opioid epidemic. That is all,” Trudeau said.The federal minister in charge of the request, Toronto MP Ya'ara Saks, said in a statement that “every request is reviewed on a case-by-case basis,” and “all relevant partners” including the Ontario government would be involved in any final decision.
