The Federal government has said it will not consider decriminalizing drugs other than marijuana despite the country’s major cities urging them to consider otherwise.

A report by Health Canada found that in 2017, close to 4,000 Canadians died from an apparent opioid overdose. There were 303 in Toronto alone. Montreal saw 140 opioid-related deaths in just a little over a year’s time.

Both Montreal and Toronto are joining the city of Vancouver in urging for the decriminalization of all drugs which has been echoed by health officials and advocates across British Columbia. All three cities ask that the government treat drug use as a public health issue and not a criminal one as the opioid epidemic continues to take more lives. The federal government however, will not budge on its stance.

Thierry Belair, a spokesperson for the Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor said that the federal government understands the need to reduce the stigma around drug use and to reduce the barriers in receiving treatment.

He said that Ottawa has taken measures to make it easier for health professionals to provide opioid substitution therapies and that the government has approved more than 25 supervised consumption areas but that decriminalization is not an option.

Fardous Hosseiny, national director of research and public policy at the Canadian Mental Health Association has advocated for decriminalization and is glad to see the call from the country’s major cities to decriminalize all illegal drugs, hoping it will put some pressure on the government to reconsider.

“Given the scale of the opioid crisis in Canada, we know that we need to take bold action,” said Hosseiny.

“We know that evidence tells us that the war on drugs hasn’t worked, so criminalization really stigmatizes people and created barriers for them accessing treatment and accessing help when they need it.”

Jagmeet Singh, Federal NDP Leader urged the Prime Minister last fall to decriminalize all illegal drugs and actually campaigned on that promise during the NDP leadership race.

The Conservatives are largely against legalizing cannabis and most object to decriminalizing harder drugs.