Ottawa approves B.C. request to recriminalize public possession of illicit drugs

Ottawa has approved British Columbia’s request to again prohibit possession of illicit drugs in public spaces, in a significant policy reversal of the province’s drug decriminalization pilot project. Ya’ara Saks, federal Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, announced the development on Tuesday at a news conference on Parliament Hill. “We have said yes, and it is effective immediately,” she said. The three-year pilot began Jan. 31, 2023, and permitted British Columbians aged 18 and older to carry up to a …