VANCOUVER — In 2023, Ottawa granted British Columbia a temporary exemption to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of illicit drugs for personal use. The province celebrated it as a "critical step toward reducing the shame and fear associated with substance use."The experiment is scheduled to come to an end on January 31, 2026, however the BC NDP has not yet revealed whether it will ask the federal government for an extension or move on..WATCH: Eby admits he was 'wrong' on drug decriminalization.Over the past three years, the chorus of opposition to the policy has grown in size and intensity. Among the most vocal has been Independent MLA Elenore Sturko."Considering what a significant impact decriminalization has had on British Columbia, it's beyond disappointing to see that there hasn't been any substantial communication about what's happening going forward from the premier or government," she told the Western Standard. Sturko said she believes Eby is waiting for Ottawa to end the exemption first so he and the BC NDP "don't have to be a bad guy.""Eby has a long history of being a drug decriminalization activist," she added. "He's also got a history — especially as premier — of being a person who talks out of both sides of their mouth. He is a person whose ideological views personally have got in the way of the best path for British Columbians moving forward."Sturko accused Eby of being a "coward," suggesting he's "reluctant politically to end the experiment because a lot of his voter base would still be committed to this kind of alternative reality where the path forward is legalization and regulation of drugs beyond what they're actually regulated for.""It's clear to the majority of British Columbians what needs to be done in this province," she added, "but David Eby is really trying to somehow walk the centre line, and he's failing because the reality is that he still has five people a day losing their life to addiction in BC."Sturko called on the BC NDP to come clean to British Columbians on the real impacts of decriminalization, noting that "the government hasn't provided any evidence whatsoever that it has been of any value.."The evidence they said they would be collecting and providing to the public at the outset in 2023 was originally going to be a dashboard that was going to show engagement in treatment, in recovery services — that was completely discontinued," she lamented.Sturko contended that "if this was a premier who was committed to doing the right thing for British Columbians, we would have a full public inquiry on how we came to be in a place where so-called experts and bureaucrats within the NDP's government framework ignored blatant evidence of harm on communities while calling critics liars and accusing them of spreading misinformation, and only really changed their policy direction when the public found out after the document was leaked."The document in question was an internal government presentation showing that a significant amount of "safe supply" drugs were being diverted and trafficked provincially, nationally, and internationally.In October, Premier David Eby himself admitted that he was "wrong" on decriminalization, explaining that it was "not the right policy."."What it became was a permissive structure that ... resulted in really unhappy consequences," he said, noting that other jurisdictions that attempted it experienced similar outcomes.One such place was Oregon, which ditched its decriminalization experiment in 2024 in favour of a policy that downgraded possession from a felony to a misdemeanour and used the criminal justice system to funnel addicts into treatment.This Portuguese-inspired model was touted by many in BC — including Dr. Bonnie Henry — as the framework for the province's policy, but unlike in the Iberian nation, BC did not ensure support was there for those who need it."I'd like to see us move to a situation where we're using our system to actually help compel people whose behaviour is breaking the social contract, hurting other people, and harming communities brought into that type of system," Sturko said. "It would be restoring law and order on our streets and downtowns that have been negatively impacted by decriminalization, and also adding a layer of accountability that can actually help and guide people in their paths to — hopefully — recovery long term."The Western Standard has reached out to Eby for comment.
