With the BC government scrapping the decriminalization of drugs project, one has to ask — Why didn't they do this sooner?That's definitely what one person is asking — that person being Julian Somers, a clinical psychologist at Simon Fraser University (SFU).He goes further than simply questioning why the government didn't trash the decriminalization policy sooner — he questions why they introduced it in the first place.In 2021, Somers had briefed the now-Premier and then-Housing Minister of BC, David Eby, on research proving a different approach produced much better results for the treatment of homeless and addicted people. According to a report by Global News, Somers says his research involved looking at "everyone who was diagnosed with an addiction, involved with courts or corrections and experiencing other kinds of hardship.".From this data, it was concluded one of the best predictors of a successful recovery for people suffering from addiction was people being properly housed. However, this information did not necessarily get through to Eby.In fact, after Somers briefed him on the research, Somers says the BC government trashed the data before launching their decriminalization pilot in January 2023.The program initially allowed adults to possess small amounts (up to 2.5g) of illegal substances for personal use.The government claimed this would "reduce the stigma associated with substance use and support people to access important health and social services.".Somers argues if the government hadn't deleted his research — it could have helped avoid the position the government is currently in. "The order to destroy data arrived out of the blue exactly one week after I had briefed Deputy Ministers on our major findings and our current work plan," Somers told the Western Standard. "I believe they did not want us to be in a position to evaluate their policies.""And now we know that decriminalization and 'safe supply' were introduced with no evaluation.""It's sickening to know that the work we were doing would have produced evidence in 2022 that could have helped spare suffering and death..About $40 million had been spent on the research and on publishing dozens of papers based on the data.Somers told the Western Standard about the process of helping people recover from addictions and the solutions he found to be actually effective. Somers stated surrounding individuals who suffer from addiction and homelessness with community-based teams resulted in the most successful rates of recovery for people."Referred to as a 'hospital without walls' these teams provide 24/7 support to people," Somers stated."In the case of my own work, we implemented teams in Vancouver who worked with clients that had been homeless for about ten years on average while struggling with addictions and other mental illnesses."."We offered people choices of housing in healthy settings, and they shoulder the responsibility of pursuing improved health and wellbeing.""Compared to people who were randomized to usual care and who typically remained homeless, those randomized to housing with + 24/7 support had 71% fewer criminal convictions and 45% fewer medical emergencies.""Incremental improvements need to be anticipated and supported: learning community routines (groceries, cooking, laundry, transit), returning to employment with support as needed, repairing relationships with kids & family members, and so on."Overall, Somers concluded a key factor in improvement was social reintegration..Somers' claims his research implemented into policy would actually save the government — and taxpayers — money.The public costs of managing people who experience prolonged homelessness are over $50,000 per person in BC — accompanied by the homeless individuals' declining personal health, and the community's declining safety.He says instead, "Recovery-oriented interventions reduce public spending by including a focus on returning to employment and reducing spending associated with time in hospital and prison," Somers stated. According to a report Somers published with SFU about homelessness and addiction, BC has the highest rates of concurrent substance abuse and mental illness in all of Canada..BC's decriminalization pilot will end January 31.
