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Monday, April 14, 2025 (Halifax) _ A new study suggests that decriminalization in British Columbia led to a substantial decrease in criminal justice involvement among people who use drugs, without leading to significant increases or decreases in rates of hospitalization or death due to opioids and stimulants.

Researchers from Dalhousie University and the Bruyère Health Research Institute in Ottawa used publicly available data on all drug hospitalizations and deaths, and police-reported drug incidents in Canada to evaluate changes in health and criminal justice outcomes in the first year after decriminalization. The study compared changes in B.C. versus the rest of Canada over the two years pre-decriminalization and the first year of decriminalization.

"Our findings showed a substantial and immediate reduction in criminal justice involvement among people who use drugs after decriminalization — an important shift that suggests the policy is working as intended," said report author Adrienne Gaudreault, a medical student at Dalhousie. "This aligns with the goal of moving away from a criminal justice response to substance use."

The findings were published today in the journal, JAMA.

The drug overdose crisis remains a serious issue, responsible for 8,459 deaths in Canada and 105,007 deaths in the United States in 2023 alone. Drug decriminalization has been proposed as a measure to possibly help mitigate the crisis. In January 2023, British Columbia decriminalized the possession and public use of up to 2.5 grams of certain drugs, including opioids, cocaine and derivatives, methamphetamine and MDMA (ecstasy).

Between 2021 and 2023, there were 24,170 opioid and 13,236 stimulant-related deaths and 18,123 opioid and 6,978 stimulant-related hospitalizations in Canada.

The authors found that drug decriminalization in B.C. worked as intended, with an immediate 57 per cent reduction in police incidents in the province. Over the same period, there was no change in drug possession incidents in the rest of Canada or for drug trafficking incidents in B.C., neither of which were decriminalized.  

During the first year of decriminalization in B.C., there were no significant increases or decreases in rates of stimulant or opioid hospitalizations or deaths, compared to the prior two years, nor did they differ significantly from changes in the rest of Canada over the same period.

"The data supports that decriminalization substantially reduced police interactions for drug possession in B.C. with no immediate impact on deaths or hospitalizations related to opioid or stimulants use. While ongoing monitoring is needed the findings highlight the need for additional measures to mitigate the current crisis," said Dr. Daniel Myran, an investigator with Bruyère Health Research Institute and Canada Research Chair in Social Accountability with the University of Ottawa Department of Family Medicine.

The authors noted that while there was no reduction in the rates of hospitalization or death due to opioids and stimulants, decriminalization was not linked to an increase in rates of overdose either. Given potential harms associated with criminal records, the policy may offer benefits to individuals who use drugs.

Media contacts:

Jasmine Rooke
Research Communications, Bruyère Health Research Institute
jrooke@bruyere.org

Alison Auld
Senior Research Reporter
Dalhousie University
Cell: 1-902-220-0491
Email: alison.auld@dal.ca