Canadian province proposes sweeping ban on public use of illegal drugs

In January, the province began a three-year pilot program to stop prosecuting people for carrying small amounts of heroin, meth, ecstasy, or crack cocaine, as part of an effort to fight an overdose crisis. The legislation would allow police officers to ask a person using illegal drugs in public places to stop and go to an overdose prevention or supervised consumption site. British Columbia accounts for about a third of the 32,000 deaths due to overdose and trafficking nationally since 2016, according to official data.