Toronto health official urges drug decriminalization amid opioid crisis

TORONTO – With opioid-related overdoses and deaths reaching record levels in Canada, the top medical official in Toronto is calling for the decriminalization of all drugs as part of a strategy to treat illicit drug use as a public health and social issue, not a criminal one.

In a report released Monday, Eileen de Villa, Toronto's chief medical officer, urged the city's board of health to pressure the federal government to eliminate legal penalties for the possession of drugs and to scale up "prevention, harm reduction and treatment services."

http://www.startribune.com/toronto-health-official-urges-drug-decriminalization-amid-opioid-crisis/488324711/