A poll has found that most of the people who identify as minorities in British Columbia do not believe that criminalizing drug use is "racist."The results fly in the face of claims made by the BC NDP that prohibition is "rooted in racism."According to the poll, conducted by Mainstreet Research on behalf of the Centre for Responsible Drug Policy and the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, a majority of respondents disagreed with the suggestion that criminalizing drug use was racist.Among all non-white British Columbians, around 55% said this was not the case, only slightly less than their white compatriots. Those who reported to be multiracial were most likely to believe criminalizing drug use was not racist, at around 70%, with First Nations not far behind.East Asian and South Asian respondents were less likely to believe likewise than members of the aforementioned groups, at around 42% and 46%, respectively.While a majority of those in all age groups agreed that such policies were not racist, older British Columbians who identified as minorities were less inclined to say so than their younger peers. When asked whether drug use should be destigmatized, 44% of white respondents disagreed, only slightly more than the 43.5% of non-white respondents who said so.The poll asked 1,027 non-white British Columbian adults between September 23 and October 5, however a much larger population is set to be surveyed in the following months to provide even greater insight.In an interview with the Western Standard, Centre for Responsible Drug Policy Executive Director Adam Zivo explained that he had heard from many minority community leaders in BC that people were "hostile" towards drug legalization. Since the plural of anecdote is not data, however, a more scientific approach was necessary to corroborate those on the ground findings.He claimed that "activist bureaucrats were to blame for spreading the idea that minorities believed criminalizing drug was racist, and pushed back against the idea pushed by the NDP government that BC's drug policy itself is "rooted in racism, colonialism, and xenophobia."The provincial health officer's "Alternatives to Unregulated Drugs" report released in July, for example, suggested that "the roots of prohibition began with racist fears about non-white immigrants in Canada." It noted that the Chinese Regulation Act, passed in 1884, "included the first attempt at legal prohibition of opium in Canada and instituted a fine of up to $100 for use and possession of opium, except for medical or surgical purposes."Zivo pushed back against that narrative, pointing out that prohibition had been, and is currently, the law in numerous majority non-white countries. He added that ignoring that fact was "an egregious erasure of non-European history."He went on to slam the government for "only listen[ing] to a small clique of activists and pretend[ing] that those activists can represent the entirety of their community's ideology," noting that one of the reasons this happens is because it's "very hard to get data" on the beliefs of minority communities.When asked whether he believed things would improve under a Conservative government, Zivo said it was "hard to say," predicting that little will change unless the activist-filled bureaucracy was overhauled.
A poll has found that most of the people who identify as minorities in British Columbia do not believe that criminalizing drug use is "racist."The results fly in the face of claims made by the BC NDP that prohibition is "rooted in racism."According to the poll, conducted by Mainstreet Research on behalf of the Centre for Responsible Drug Policy and the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, a majority of respondents disagreed with the suggestion that criminalizing drug use was racist.Among all non-white British Columbians, around 55% said this was not the case, only slightly less than their white compatriots. Those who reported to be multiracial were most likely to believe criminalizing drug use was not racist, at around 70%, with First Nations not far behind.East Asian and South Asian respondents were less likely to believe likewise than members of the aforementioned groups, at around 42% and 46%, respectively.While a majority of those in all age groups agreed that such policies were not racist, older British Columbians who identified as minorities were less inclined to say so than their younger peers. When asked whether drug use should be destigmatized, 44% of white respondents disagreed, only slightly more than the 43.5% of non-white respondents who said so.The poll asked 1,027 non-white British Columbian adults between September 23 and October 5, however a much larger population is set to be surveyed in the following months to provide even greater insight.In an interview with the Western Standard, Centre for Responsible Drug Policy Executive Director Adam Zivo explained that he had heard from many minority community leaders in BC that people were "hostile" towards drug legalization. Since the plural of anecdote is not data, however, a more scientific approach was necessary to corroborate those on the ground findings.He claimed that "activist bureaucrats were to blame for spreading the idea that minorities believed criminalizing drug was racist, and pushed back against the idea pushed by the NDP government that BC's drug policy itself is "rooted in racism, colonialism, and xenophobia."The provincial health officer's "Alternatives to Unregulated Drugs" report released in July, for example, suggested that "the roots of prohibition began with racist fears about non-white immigrants in Canada." It noted that the Chinese Regulation Act, passed in 1884, "included the first attempt at legal prohibition of opium in Canada and instituted a fine of up to $100 for use and possession of opium, except for medical or surgical purposes."Zivo pushed back against that narrative, pointing out that prohibition had been, and is currently, the law in numerous majority non-white countries. He added that ignoring that fact was "an egregious erasure of non-European history."He went on to slam the government for "only listen[ing] to a small clique of activists and pretend[ing] that those activists can represent the entirety of their community's ideology," noting that one of the reasons this happens is because it's "very hard to get data" on the beliefs of minority communities.When asked whether he believed things would improve under a Conservative government, Zivo said it was "hard to say," predicting that little will change unless the activist-filled bureaucracy was overhauled.
