A Canadian province’s experiment decriminalizing fentanyl in an effort to drive down overdose fatalities has failed, with the death toll unchanged by the pilot scheme.
Politicians in British Columbia (BC) believed that legalizing the synthetic opioid, along with other hard drugs including heroin, methamphetamine and crack cocaine, would be a ‘critical step’ towards allowing users to seek help without fear of being detained.
Under the program, which launched January 2023, people found carrying drugs below the 2.5-gram threshold would be guided by police to social support services instead of being arrested or charged.
