{"id":1953372,"date":"2023-06-21T17:58:04","date_gmt":"2023-06-21T21:58:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/drugs-now-leading-cause-of-death-after-decriminalization-in-british-columbia\/"},"modified":"2023-06-21T18:01:10","modified_gmt":"2023-06-21T22:01:10","slug":"drugs-now-leading-cause-of-death-after-decriminalization-in-british-columbia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/drugs-now-leading-cause-of-death-after-decriminalization-in-british-columbia\/","title":{"rendered":"Drug-related deaths have become the primary cause of death in British Columbia following decriminalization."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdrugs-now-leading-cause-of-death-after-decriminalization-in-british-columbia%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1953372&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Drug Overdoses: A Growing Crisis in British Columbia<\/h2>\n<p>Drug overdoses have become the leading cause of death for people ages 10 to 59 in British Columbia, following the decriminalization of several hard drugs in the Canadian province.<\/p>\n<p>According to a press release from British Columbia\u2019s Public Safety and Solicitor General Ministry, deaths from illegal drugs now surpass homicides, suicides, accidents, and natural diseases combined.<\/p>\n<p>From January to May this year, 1,018 British Columbians lost their lives to drug overdoses, marking a 2.9% increase compared to the same period last year. Since April 2016, at least 12,264 individuals in British Columbia have died from illegal drugs.<\/p>\n<p>In a groundbreaking move, British Columbia became the first Canadian province to decriminalize fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and morphine in January. The government aimed to address addiction as a health issue rather than a criminal justice matter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDecriminalizing people who use drugs breaks down the fear and shame associated with substance use and ensures they feel safer reaching out for life-saving supports,\u201d said Jennifer Whiteside, the British Columbia minister for mental health and addictions, at the time.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">As of Jan. 31, 2023,\u00a0adults aged 18+ in BC who possess 2.5g or less of certain illegal drugs for personal use will not <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/belarusian-authorities-raid-homes-and-offices-of-journalists-and-activists\/\" title=\"Belarusian Authorities Raid Homes And Offices Of Journalists And Activists\">face criminal charges<\/a>. BC will be the 1st province to\u00a0take this step to treat addiction as a health issue, not a criminal justice one.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/jAa8Ehmcqt\">https:\/\/t.co\/jAa8Ehmcqt<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0yMqnvvp6k\">pic.twitter.com\/0yMqnvvp6k<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 BC Government News (@BCGovNews) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BCGovNews\/status\/1618738316874231808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 26, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>As part of the pilot program lasting three years, residents of British Columbia who are over 18 can now carry up to 2.5 grams of previously illegal drugs without facing criminal charges.<\/p>\n<p>The current overdose crisis is primarily driven by illegal fentanyl, although meth and cocaine are also popular choices, according to Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe.<\/p>\n<p><b data-stringify-type=\"bold\"><\/b><\/p>\n<p>\u201cExpedited testing in 2023 has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ivermectin-is-safe-and-effective-the-evidence\/\" title=\"Ivermectin Is Safe and Effective: The Evidence\">shown positive results<\/a> for fentanyl in almost nine out of every 10 cases, nearly double the positivity rate of methamphetamine and cocaine, the next most commonly identified substances,\u201d Lapointe explained. \u201cAs long as people rely on the profit-driven unregulated market to access the substances they need, their lives are at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The overdose crisis has also affected teenagers, with a report from the province\u2019s Coroners Service revealing that at least 142 teens under the age of 19 died from drug overdoses between 2017 and 2022.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know that young people are not immune from the extreme dangers of the unregulated drug supply,\u201d emphasized Lapointe. \u201cA public-health crisis of this magnitude demands a comprehensive response that meets people where they are and provides the services they need to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Similar to British Columbia, some jurisdictions in the United States have also decriminalized hard drugs. Oregon, for example, decriminalized small amounts of cocaine, heroin, LSD, oxycodone, and methamphetamine in 2021. Washington state narrowly avoided decriminalizing drugs across the state earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p>Cities such as Seattle, San Francisco, and Philadelphia, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/drugs-now-leading-cause-of-death-after-decriminalization-in-british-columbia\/\" title=\"Drug-related deaths have become the primary cause of death in British Columbia following decriminalization.\">face significant drug addiction problems<\/a>, have not decriminalized hard drugs. However, progressive prosecutors in these cities are reluctant to prosecute drug addicts for unlawful possession or open-air drug use.<\/p>\n<p>In a surprising move, the Seattle City Council recently voted not to enforce Washington state\u2019s new drug law, which would have allowed the city to prosecute public drug use.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Drug overdoses have surpassed homicides, suicides, accidents, and natural diseases combined as the primary cause of death for individuals aged 10 to 59 in British Columbia. This alarming trend follows the decriminalization of various hard drugs in the Canadian province. British Columbia&#8217;s Public Safety and Solicitor General Ministry highlighted this concerning information in a recent press release.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":1953373,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[8519,9262,6499,4498,25866,29325,4909],"class_list":["post-1953372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-british","tag-columbia","tag-death","tag-deaths","tag-decriminalization","tag-drug-related","tag-primary"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1953372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1953372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1953372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1953373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1953372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1953372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1953372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}