Eby concedes harm-reduction backtracks as opioid toll looms

In each case, Premier David Eby himself acknowledged the backdown and the reasons for it. “I absolutely accept the critique that these authorities are needed and have been needed for a while,” Eby told reporters in curbing open drug use two years ago. “That should have been in place, it should have been there. Clearly, with the benefit of hindsight, the police needed those authorities.” He conceded that the New Democrats had been too concerned about “removing the stigma” on drug use. They also relied

too much on the existing law against public intoxication to prevent the worst excesses. On safer supply, when a leaked PowerPoint presentation from the health ministry confirmed that the critics of safer supply were right, Eby threw in the towel and restricted access to the drugs. “It is essential that these programs are structured in a way that prevents unintended consequences, including the illegal redistribution of prescribed substances,” the premier told the legislature in February 2025. “That’s why we’re moving to witnessed ingestion.” Then late

last year, the premier said B.C. had no intention of asking the federal government to renew Health Canada’s exemption for the province’s three-year experiment with decriminalization of illicit drugs.

David Eby, harm reduction, opioid crisis, witnessed ingestion, safer supply, police authorities, public intoxication law, decriminalization experiment, Health Canada exemption, B.C. NDP