Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, 33 Ursula Frank St, Toronto, ON, M5S 2S1, Canada.
Ontario Node, Canadian Research Initiative in Substance Matters (CRISM), 33 Ursula Franklin St, Toronto, ON, M5S 2S1, Canada.
Harm Reduct J. 2024 Oct 24;21(1):190. doi: 10.1186/s12954-024-01108-5.
On January 31, 2023, a three-year exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act was granted to the Canadian province British Columbia (BC), allowing the cumulative possession of 2.5 g of specific unregulated drugs amongst adults. The goals of the policy are to reduce health, social, and economic harms associated with criminalization, stigma, drug overdose deaths, as well as drug seizures, arrests, and associated enforcement and court costs. As the inaugural year has passed, we aimed to assess people who use drugs' awareness and knowledge of the, as well as the policy's impact on their drug use patterns and overdose risk.
We conducted 100 telephone-based semi-structured interviews with people who use drugs from across BC, exploring changes in drug use experiences and perceived overdose risk since the implementation of the policy. Participants also completed an interviewer-administered survey assessing socio-demographics and substance use patterns. We utilized a qualitative content analysis approach to analyze the interview data.
Our findings indicate a general awareness of the policy among participants, although some policy details were often misunderstood, and participants expressed the need for more widespread dissemination of policy information. While the majority of participants reported that their drug use patterns remained unchanged after decriminalization, some made subtle adjustments, such as carrying under the 2.5 g threshold to minimize the risk of criminalization. Participants highlighted several policy benefits and concerns, including its potential to reduce criminalization and stigmatization, but also increase public drug consumption. Participants offered suggestions for policy improvement.
These findings underscore the need for ongoing monitoring of the impacts of decriminalization regarding its potential impact on people who use drugs' drug use patterns and related risks. Reevaluation of the possession threshold and efforts to enhance education and awareness about the policy could help achieve the policy's goals.
2023 年 1 月 31 日，加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省（BC）获得了《受控药物和物质法》三年豁免，允许成年人累计持有 2.5 克特定不受管制的药物。该政策的目标是减少与刑事定罪、污名化、药物过量死亡以及药物缉获、逮捕以及相关执法和法庭费用相关的健康、社会和经济危害。随着第一年的过去，我们旨在评估吸毒者对该政策的认识和了解，以及该政策对他们的药物使用模式和过量风险的影响。
我们在不列颠哥伦比亚省各地对 100 名吸毒者进行了基于电话的半结构化访谈，探讨了自该政策实施以来，他们的药物使用经验和感知到的过量风险的变化。参与者还完成了一项由访谈者管理的调查，评估了社会人口统计学和物质使用模式。我们使用定性内容分析方法来分析访谈数据。
我们的研究结果表明，参与者普遍意识到该政策的存在，尽管他们经常误解一些政策细节，并表示需要更广泛地传播政策信息。尽管大多数参与者报告称，他们的药物使用模式在合法化后没有改变，但有些人进行了微妙的调整，例如携带低于 2.5 克的阈值，以最大限度地降低刑事定罪的风险。参与者强调了一些政策的好处和关注点，包括其减少刑事定罪和污名化的潜力，但也增加了公众的毒品消费。参与者提出了一些政策改进的建议。
这些发现强调了需要持续监测合法化对吸毒者药物使用模式和相关风险的潜在影响，并需要重新评估持有阈值，以及努力加强对政策的教育和宣传，以实现政策目标。
