Study finds drug decriminalization in British Columbia linked to significant reduction in criminal justice involvement
04/14/2025
Ottawa, April 14, 2025 – A new study comparing outcomes pre- and post-decriminalization measures in the province of British Columbia (BC) with the rest of Canada suggests that decriminalization led to a substantial decrease in criminal justice involvement among people who use drugs, without leading to significant increases or decreases in rates of hospitalization or death due to opioids and stimulants.
The drug overdose crisis remains a serious issue, responsible for 8,459 deaths in Canada and 105,007 deaths in the United States in 2023 alone. Drug decriminalization has been proposed as a possible measure to help mitigate the current crisis. In January of 2023, the province of British Columbia decriminalized the possession and public use of up to 2.5 grams of certain drugs, including opioids, cocaine and derivatives, methamphetamine, and MDMA (ecstasy).
Using data capturing all drug hospitalizations and deaths and police-reported drug incidents in Canada, the researchers evaluated changes in health and criminal justice outcomes in the first year after decriminalization. The study compared changes in BC versus the rest of Canada across the two years pre-decriminalization and the first year of decriminalization.
Between 2021 and 2023, there were 24,170 opioid and 13,236 stimulant-related deaths and 18,123 opioid and 6,978 stimulant-related hospitalizations in Canada.
The authors found that drug decriminalization in BC worked as intended to reduce police incidents for drug possession, with an immediate 57% reduction in police incidents in BC. Over the same period, there was no change in drug possession incidents in the rest of Canada or for drug trafficking incidents in BC, neither of which were decriminalized.
During the first year of decriminalization in BC, there were no significant increases or decreases in rates of stimulant or opioid hospitalizations or deaths, compared to the prior two years, nor did they differ significantly from changes in the rest of Canada over the same time period.
“The data supports that decriminalization substantially reduced police interactions for drug possession in BC with no immediate impact on deaths or hospitalizations related to opioid or stimulants use. While ongoing monitoring is needed the findings highlight the need for other measures to mitigate the current crisis,” said Dr. Daniel Myran, Investigator with Bruyère Health Research Institute, Canada Research Chair in Social Accountability with the University of Ottawa Department of Family medicine, and Associate Scientist with the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute.
The authors noted that while there was no reduction in the rates of hospitalization or death due to opioids and stimulants, decriminalization was not linked to an increase in rates of overdose either. Given potential harms associated with criminal records the policy may offer benefits to individuals who use drugs.
“It’s important to highlight that reducing police interactions for minor drug possession did lead to significantly less criminal justice involvement which could have important social and health benefits for people who use drugs,” said Adrienne Gaudreault, Medical Student at Dalhousie University. “These downstream impacts may be significant and shouldn’t be overlooked.”
“Drug Decriminalization in British Columbia and Changes in Drug Crime and Opioid and Stimulant Harms” was published in JAMA.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Jasmine Rooke
Research Communications, Bruyère Health Research Institute
jrooke@bruyere.org