The provincial government has ended its three-year pilot project that saw personal possession of illicit drugs decriminalized. The problems with the pilot became apparent quickly, drawing criticism from advocates and the political opposition alike, with many pointing out the missing pieces.

Provincial data collected from 2014 to October 2025 shows nearly 19,000 deaths due to toxic unregulated drugs. That figure includes 3,099 deaths in the Interior Health region and 626 deaths in Kamloops, including more than 50 in the city over the past year.

Those horrific figures peaked in 2023 and have only shown a small decline province-wide since then. Ultimately, the province declared the pilot project a failure and decided not to renew after its end date of Jan. 31.

According to the province, the intent behind the decriminalization pilot project was to allow those using drugs to get help without the fear of arrest and incarceration.

“Despite the hard work and good intentions behind the pilot, it has not delivered the results we hoped for,” said Josie Osborne, who has served as B.C.’s health minister since November 2024.

Among advocates, there was consensus early on the pilot would fail, according to Alfred Achoba, executive director at the Kamloops branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA).

Achoba pointed to the four pillars drug strategy, which is centred around harm reduction, prevention, treatment and enforcement.

“We focused heavily on harm reduction and enforcement. Those two are literally part of the model, they don’t stand alone.

“People have to be able to progress through the model in a way where enforcement becomes the last option to get them the care they need,” Achoba told the Chronicle.

Achoba said no one among his group of peers expected the pilot to be successful because the government wasn’t listening to experts who advocated for a more complete implementation of the model.

Glenn Hilke, who operated The Loop drop-in centre for years before it was shut down, said a safe supply of drugs is a critical missing piece of the puzzle and one reason why the pilot failed.

“I really do think we could come up with a model that is not dissimilar to marijuana dispensaries, but in a controlled environment in pharmacies or within health authorities, where people could, on a regular basis, access a safe supply and also have conversations that lead to detox, rehab, treatment and sobriety,” Hilke said.

Hilke also pointed to action from Kamloops city council, which outlawed public drug use with a bylaw and spurred provincial action on the matter in late 2023 — something he saw as opposition to the project.

“They said it was going to increase crime, increase danger. They didn’t say anything about how it might be a help to some people. So, there was really a perfect storm going on to kill this thing from the get-go,” he said.

That bylaw was introduced by Kamloops Coun. Katie Neustaeter at a time when concern over street disorder was at an all-time high.

“The idea was to force Interior Health to the table on the topic and to get the province to wake up and listen to the concerns of residents, of the RCMP, of those who love people who are using drugs, and those with lived experience, who see the gaps in this dangerous policy,” Neustaeter told the Chronicle.

The province later passed legislation outlawing public drug use in areas like playgrounds, on transit and in hospitals.

Neustaeter said the city’s business communities were supportive of council’s pushback against public drug use, but also that there was agreement among those groups that the pilot project did not do enough around recovery.

“There were no additional resources, no policy developed around making sure people have what they need for recovery,” Neustaeter said.

Kamloops Centre MLA Peter Milobar was similarly critical of the government’s approach.

“They didn’t put up guardrails, like enhanced access to treatment like they were supposed to have in place before they embarked on this. It was destined to fail. They rushed it out the door,” he said.

Milobar also said the government didn’t collect necessary data to measure the pilot’s success, including a baseline before its launch.

Among advocates, it is clear that a more comprehensive approach is needed, with decriminalization being one component of that approach in order to not drive people back into hiding their drug use.

“It’s complicated, but you have to do something other than force people back into the shadows, because when you do that, you are just saying, ‘It’s OK if you die. We don’t really care about you and your disease,’” Hilke said.

Lana Fine operates the Same Sky Collective at 417 Tranquille Rd., a non-profit art studio that doubles, she said, as a “social justice human rights hub,” handing out harm reduction supplies and clothing to anyone in need.

Fine has a background in social work. She came to Kamloops and earned a master’s degree in human rights and social work from TRU and was previously a social worker and public outreach educator in Victoria for nine years.

Fine said stigma and shame are killing people much the same way the toxic drug supply is.

A return to criminalized drugs, Fine said, means people won’t feel safe to let others know they are using, which isolates them and causes more harm.

“In isolation, people can’t give themselves naloxone,” Fine said.

Among drug users and those who work with them, it remains unclear how the RCMP will react to the change.

Kamloops RCMP Superintendent Jeff Pelley commented on the end of the pilot project at council’s safety and security committee meeting on Jan. 26.

Pelley said officers would take a “measured approach” with simple possession and consider if the offence was part of other criminal activity.

“We won’t be supporting the use of those illicit drugs in our business corridors, in front of businesses, affecting business owners or patrons that want to use these premises,” Pelley said.

Pelley said the approach would be “very similar” to how drug use was handled prior to the decriminalization pilot.

Hilke said word had gone around, even prior to the deadline on Jan. 31, that decriminalization was ending, and that many people were taking the change at face value, with many worried the police would be out in force.

“So that’s going to force them to think about hiding their use, and that’s an incredible risk, especially if they’re alone,” Hilke said.

At the CMHA, Achoba said the change presents “mixed messages” to the agency’s clients. “There’s a lot of education we need to do, letting them know that possession of drugs now, could be chargeable. They need to know that for their own safety, for their wellbeing,” he said.

Achoba said any future attempts at easing the impacts of the toxic drug crisis must include input from the experts.

“The government needs to listen to the experts. That is lived experience, medical sector, non-profit sector, who have been doing this work,” he said, also noting that there was no consultation done prior to cancelling the pilot project.

“There are other options out there, other ways we could have made it successful. But it stems from the policymakers not trusting experts in the field,” Achoba said.

Neustaeter said she has seen “palpable shifts in attitude” that give her some hope, including in the Ministry of Health under Osborne and from Premier David Eby.

“I think hope is the obligation of any good policy maker. We have to lean into that, and certainly these shifts in attitude and in policy. Hopefully consultation is the next checkmark,” Neustaeter said.

Fine said she favours an approach that would bolster social services, especially treatment and housing, but would also include decriminalization once again.

“We will never see the results we want without those other pieces. It’s just one part and it’s absolutely, to me, the biggest important factor in addressing the toxic drug crisis, but not without addressing the lack of affordable housing, cost of living, lack of adequate services,” she said.