Drug decriminalization movement gaining momentum in Canada as overdose deaths surge

As overdose deaths keep surging in Canada, the movement to decriminalize illicit drugs is gaining steam, with one of the country's largest mental health facilities joining national advocates and several major cities in putting pressure on the federal government to act.

Earlier this summer, mayors from across B.C. signed a letter in support of Vancouver city officials who are seeking Health Canada's approval to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of illegal drugs. 

Toronto is gearing up to submit a similar request, a move which follows the city recently hitting its highest one-day opioid overdose count in late July.

Now, the country's largest mental health teaching hospital, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, is for the first time formally pushing for countrywide drug decriminalization as well, CBC News has learned.

In a new policy statement being released publicly on Wednesday, the hospital is calling on the federal government to decriminalize all drugs while working with the provinces to ramp up treatment and harm-reduction services and replace the "unregulated, toxic drug supply."

"The driving factor behind the shift has been the harms we're seeing," said Dr. Leslie Buckley, chief of the addictions division at CAMH, during an interview.

Buckley says the legal framework around substance use hasn't been successful at curbing drug use, and instead causes social harms which disproportionately affect racialized communities.