Drug Policy

Overview

In Canada and other countries, drug use and dependence are treated largely as criminal law concerns — and people who use drugs are vilified and subjected to routine and often horrific human rights abuses.

Yet extensive evidence shows that doing the reverse would be more productive. The overreliance on criminal law enforcement (a.k.a. “the war on drugs”) is not only ineffective, it is hugely wasteful, carrying enormous financial costs and taking a terrible human toll on people who use drugs and their families and loved ones. Furthermore, criminalizing and incarcerating people for drug use, and denying access to effective health services, only fuels the spread of infections such as HIV and hepatitis C (HCV). Instead, all available evidence indicates that protecting and promoting the human rights of people who use drugs is necessary and effective in upholding their human rights, including their right to health.

We’re committed to reducing the harms caused by harsh, misguided drug laws. Instead of prohibition and punishment, drug policy must be grounded in sound  evidence, and in the principle of the universality of human rights — rights to which all people are equally entitled, including people who use drugs.

We advocate for:

• increased access to harm reduction and other evidence-based health services, such as needle and syringe programs, supervised consumption and overdose prevention services, a safe, regulated drug supply, and drug dependence treatment;
• criminal legal system reforms that respect the human rights and promote the health of people who use drugs and reduce their chances of incarceration, with a focus on the impacts of such reforms on Black, Indigenous and other racialized communities;
• drug policy that is evidence-informed, human rights–based, culturally appropriate and gender-sensitive; and
• international standards on drug policy, including harm reduction and drug dependence treatment, that are consistent with human rights norms.

Harm Reduction Advocacy Guide

What is the drug poisoning crisis and what are supervised consumption services?

Canada is now fully immersed in a drug poisoning crisis — fueled by a contaminated drug supply — that is killing at an alarming rate. From 2016 to 2021, more than 29,052 people have died. In 2021 there were approximately 21 drug poisoning deaths in Canada every day — and it’s not getting any better.

Learn more: