Toronto’s medical officer of health wants feds to decriminalize all drugs for personal use
Toronto’s top public health official believes the time has come to decriminalize all drugs for personal use and will be asking the city’s board of health this week to push the federal government for action on the issue.
Dr. Eileen de Villa, the city’s medical officer of health, said she wouldn’t be doing her job if she didn’t advocate for what she thinks is the right way to tackle drug addiction, a problem that is getting worse due to the opioid crisis that has left thousands of Canadians dead.
Over the past year, de Villa and her team have been examining scientific literature, talking to other jurisdictions about their approaches to drug use and speaking to drug users and citizens about the issue.
That culminated in a report de Villa will present to the city’s board of health on Monday that recommends pushing the federal government to take a public health approach, rather than a criminal one, to drug use.