Is decriminalizing illicit drugs the answer to the opioid crisis?

Is decriminalizing illicit drugs the answer to the opioid crisis?

A government taskforce report says Canada has the “fastest growing rate of overdose mortality in the world.”

So jurisdictions are turning to harm reduction.

Hamilton, Ontario, is requesting to decriminalize illicit drug possession. The city, along with Toronto, is looking to join B.C.’s 3-year pilot project to decriminalize the small possession of drugs which begins in January.

Is this the way out of the opioid crisis? Or does it go too far?

And can the Church play a more active role in helping those who want to find healing from addiction?

Matt Smedley, CEO of Mission Possible, has seen the impacts of the opioid crisis firsthand in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side. He joins Maggie John to discuss.

Click here to listen!

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