I think the point is BC isnt prosecuting or jailing people now.
I have family there and even big time dealers rarely do prison time unless it some bigger criminal conspiracy.
Users? Never. Even when repeated charged.
I have family there and even big time dealers rarely do prison time unless it some bigger criminal conspiracy.
Users? Never. Even when repeated charged.
Drug users were still actively policed with users reporting feeling "harassed" as their drugs were often confiscated, which simply made their life worse and didn't help them at all.
With this change police can no longer confiscate drugs, so the intent is to reduce police pressure on drug users.
As there are still limits to the amount of drugs that can carried, there remains the possibility for severely active policing, harassment and street checks in police actively checking people to see how much drugs they're carrying.
It's like when marijuana was legalized in CA a few year back. You could walk down the street smoking a joint for a couple decades before that.
This does nothing but updates the law to reflect how it was already being enforced. Thus no real change.
As I mentioned, in BC, not long ago a prolific dealer, caught with kgs of meth was convicted to only at-home observation. Basically "pinky promise you won't commit more crimes".
If a huge dealer isn't going to prison, it's pretty clear users aren't even being bothered.