Canadian Press-When the federal government allowed British Columbia to walk back its experiment with drug decriminalization, the move wasn’t surprising to Brittany Maple, executive director of the Matsqui-Abbotsford Impact Society. “It’s disheartening,” Maple said. “We are effectively criminalizing people for existing in public spaces when they have nowhere else safe to exist.” Now, Maple’s society has teamed up with a coalition of drug user advocacy groups to take the federal government to court, claiming the decision to recriminalize public drug possession in B.C. puts users at increased risk of death. The group of 13 non-profits, which includes the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users and the Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society, alleges in an application filed in Federal Court that the government recriminalized public drug possession in B.C. “with minimal… <\/p>\n
Canadian Press-When the federal government allowed British Columbia to walk back its experiment with drug decriminalization, the move wasn’t surprising to Brittany Maple, executive director of the Matsqui-Abbotsford Impact Society. “It’s disheartening,” Maple said. “We are effectively criminalizing people for existing in public spaces when they have nowhere else safe to exist.” Now, Maple’s society has teamed up with a coalition of drug user advocacy groups to take the federal government to court, claiming the decision to recriminalize public drug possession in B.C. puts users at increased risk of death. The group of 13 non-profits, which includes the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users and the Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society, alleges in an application filed in Federal Court that the government recriminalized public drug possession in B.C. “with minimal... <\/p>\n