They know they have messed up society.
OTTAWA — Public drug use became illegal in British Columbia once again on Tuesday, after the federal government granted the province’s request to scale back its drug decriminalization pilot.
The change represents a major policy climbdown for the provincial NDP government more than a year into the three-year pilot program with Ottawa that is aimed at tackling the deadly overdose crisis.
But Ya’ara Saks, Canada’s mental health and addictions minister, dismissed any notion the shift is an admission the program was a failure.
“This is the first time this has been done,” she told reporters on Parliament Hill. “As in any pilot, it is a process of learning.”