ID: HR19-914

Presenting author: Scott Bernstein

Presenting author biography:

Scott Bernstein is a lawyer and a Senior Policy Analyst with the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, where he leads work on legal regulation of drugs. He has worked in the drug policy field for over a decade, engaging in human rights litigation and supporting global drug policy reform.

Creating a Regulatory Framework for Currently Illegal Drugs in Canada

Scott Bernstein, Donald MacPherson

Issue

There is growing international consensus that problems related to the use of drugs should be primarily considered within the realm of public health, rather than through criminalization and punitive approaches. A true public health approach acknowledges the harms that prohibition causes for consumers, families and society and requires a legal framework that meets the needs of drug consumers, while recognizing the importance of shifting to public health-oriented regulations concerning the production, manufacture, distribution, sale and use of psychoactive substances as a means to reduce the harms of drug policies. Despite years of calls for reform among advocates, and now growing support for change among decision-makers, there is little clarity about how to move from a prohibitionist model towards one based on public health.

Setting

Canada, population 37 million, is ground zero of an ongoing and unprecedented overdose crisis attributable to a toxic illegal drug supply tainted with powerful fentanyl and its analogues that takes the lives of over 4,000 people per year. Although harm reduction interventions have been scaled up across the nation, it has had marginal impact on the overall crisis.

Key arguments

With funding support from the Law Foundation of British Columbia, Canadian Drug Policy Coalition and partners have been engaged in filling the policy and regulatory vacuum around substances by creating and seeking consultative feedback from stakeholders on a framework for regulating all currently illegal substances that can be used for future advocacy efforts.

Outcomes and implications

This project aims to take a necessary step in concretizing the idea of legal regulation into a model that will provoke discussion within Canada about drug policies. Ultimately, it is hoped that this robust framework for the legal regulation of drugs will serve those at risk of overdose by empowering legislators to make bolder policy choices leading to reform.