5.6 Chapter Summary
Key Summary Points
- Prohibition-style drug policy continues into the 21st century, with drug prohibition/criminalization leading to negative social outcomes for people who use drugs and society more generally. Examples of negative social costs include the opioid poisoning crisis facing Canadian society today and the disproportionate impact of drug policies on marginalized and racialized communities in Canada.
- There have been various committees, task forces, and commissions enacted over the years to study and provide recommendations pertaining to Canadian drug policy.
- Canada continues to adopt drug strategies centered around criminalization and punishment (Zhang, 2021), despite the evidence-based critiques of this approach.
