SURREY UNION OF DRUG USERS RESPONDS TO PROVINCE SCRAPPING DECRIMINALIZATION
Surrey, BC – Members of the Surrey Union of Drug Users (SUDU) are disappointed but not surprised by the province’s decision to discontinue BC’s drug decriminalization pilot project. The January 14th announcement states that possession of illicit substances below 2.5 grams will be recriminalized starting January 31st 2026. From the beginning of this pilot project, it seemed that the BC NDP was setting decriminalization up to fail, with the possession limit having been set far lower than what was advocated for by people who use drugs and their allies, and given the province’s earlier move towards recriminalization with Bill 34. SUDU challenged this in court in 2024 alongside a coalition of drug user advocacy groups. We stand now, reflecting on the past 3 years, knowing that the province’s decision will only mean more police violence for the most marginalized members of our community.
“As an indigenous person, we are already targets. This is going to increase violence and increase getting jacked up by the police for no reason at all. This will increase our susceptibility to violence and harassment at the hands of the police. It’s all a farce. What it's going to come down is that we’re going to have to do our own organizing, and figure out how to respond to keep our families and our people safe.”
Sparkling Fast River Rising Woman (Mona Woodward), President, SUDU Board of Directors
“The failure of decrim is the failure of our government to save lives, they allowed politics to get in the way of humanity.”
Pete Woodrow, Vice President, SUDU Board of Directors
Ending the decriminalization pilot project reflects this government’s commitment to prohibitionist drug policy. This will make it more difficult for people who use drugs to access health care facilities, harm reduction services, or use safely around other members of their community for fear of police seizure and violence. In other words, this change will lead to more deaths. We shame the government for choosing to further isolate drug users and increase the likelihood of drug poisoning in the community.
“Prohibition and criminalization has proven not to work. Throwing people in prison will not help people! Taking away decrim will make things worse. People who don’t belong in prison will be put in prison, and people are gonna do what they’re gonna do. You can’t legislate morality.”
Stephen Meier, SUDU Research & Policy Committee
“This cruel and irresponsible move backward to recriminalize people who use drugs - reversing course to treat substance use as a criminal, and not a health issue - underscores the Province’s commitment to upholding the carceral structures of prohibition, and not, as Osborne states, an absolute commitment to exploring every option. Policy kills.”
Gina Egilson, SUDU Board of Directors
The decision to not continue BC’s decriminalization pilot project comes on the heels of last month’s push by the BC NDP to expand involuntary care in the province. We are deeply concerned by the trend towards a criminal-legal approach to the toxic drug crisis, an approach that brought us to this seemingly endless death and devastation in the first place. We demand that our elected officials pursue true evidence-based solutions such as building more supervised consumption sites and regulating the toxic drug supply!
“Decrim was always meant to be recriminalized. No matter how the party in power tries to paint these as separate issues, these are all part of the same thing. Involuntary care isn’t care, that’s imprisonment!”
Dave Webb, SUDU Research & Policy Committee
