B.C. repeals public drug use law after Ottawa’s changes [Video]

The British Columbia government has repealed a law it passed last year to restrict drug use in some public areas because successful court challenges prevented it from being brought into force.

Garry Begg, B.C.’s solicitor general and public safety minister, says in a statement the government has revoked the Restricting Public Consumption of Illegal Substances Act, that was passed in November 2023.

Nothing consequential will change on the ground after the federal government approved the B.C. government’s request in May to exempt public spaces from the province’s decriminalization pilot project, meaning police now have the authority to seize illegal drugs possessed in public, even without the provincial law.

The law was tabled in the B.C. legislature to tighten rules around the use of illicit drugs in public places after widespread criticism from municipal leaders and citizens who said the drug consumption in community parks and other areas faced fewer restrictions …