Canadians’ knowledge and attitudes around drug decriminalization: Results from a public opinion research survey

On this page

• Background on the exemption in British Columbia related to personal possession of certain illegal drugs
• Approach to monitoring attitudes around drug decriminalization
• About the Public Opinion Research (POR) survey
• Key highlights from the POR survey results
• Conclusion

Background on the exemption in British Columbia related to personal possession of certain illegal drugs

At the request of the Government of British Columbia, an exemption related to personal possession of certain illegal drugs has been granted for adults 18 years of age and older in the province. British Columbia (BC) refers to this exemption as a form of decriminalization.

From January 31, 2023 to January 31, 2026, adults are no longer subject to criminal charges or drug seizure if they're found in personal possession of up to 2.5 grams total of any combination of:

• opioids
• cocaine
• methamphetamine
• MDMA

Instead, they are offered information about health and social supports. This includes support with referrals to local treatment and recovery services, if requested.

Approach to monitoring attitudes around drug decriminalization

Health Canada is collecting data at a national level on Canadians' attitudes towards, and knowledge of, drug decriminalization. To do this, Health Canada has identified a set of indicators to monitor changes related to:

• stigma
• attitudes towards drug use
• perceptions of public safety

A key source of data for this work will be information gathered from public opinion research (POR).

About the Public Opinion Research (POR) survey

The POR survey was conducted by the Privy Council Office (PCO). It used 2 separate random samples of 2,000 Canadian adults aged 18 and older. Questions on attitudes towards people who use drugs and decriminalization were run between February 27 and March 12, 2023. Questions on knowledge of decriminalization were run between April 17 and April 30, 2023. Respondents were randomly sampled with proportional representation from across Canada. Unless otherwise noted, results shown in this report are expressed as percentages and may not add up to 100% due to rounding or a "not sure" response to a given question.

Questions focused on both attitudes and knowledge about:

• preferences for approaches to addressing substance use, including a focus on health and social services versus police enforcement
• general attitudes around empathy for people struggling with substance use
• general attitudes around level of comfort in talking to friends and family members about their substance use
• perceived benefits and disadvantages of decriminalization
• This included a focus on improved access to relevant health and social services, reduced stigma, increased harms, and reduced community safety

The POR survey also included 4 true-or-false questions to test respondents' knowledge of the details of BC's exemption for personal possession.

Key highlights from the POR survey results

Attitudes

To address substance use, 49% of Canadians preferred a focus on access to health and social services rather than police enforcement, which represented 7% of respondents (Figure 1). However, 35% felt that both approaches were equally appropriate while 6% felt that neither approach was appropriate.

Women, those with higher education and income levels, and Canadian-born respondents were more likely to prefer a focus on access to health and social services to address substance use (Figure 2a).

Although few Canadians prefer a police enforcement approach to address substance use, men and those with lower income and education levels were more likely than others to favour police enforcement (Figure 2b). Men, those with trade or college education, and immigrants were more likely to feel that both approaches were equally appropriate to address substance use (Figure 2c).

88% of Canadians responded that they would like their friends or family members who use drugs to feel comfortable talking to them about it and 81% had empathy for people struggling with substance use (Figure 3). Canadians with lower income and education levels were more likely to think decriminalization would increase harms associated with substance use and make their community less safe. Although 62% of Canadians felt that decriminalization would make it easier to access health and social services, 51% also thought it would increase harms associated with substance use such as overdoses.

Figure 1 - Text description

Figure 1: Attitudes towards approaches for addressing substance use among people who use drugs

Response	Percentage (%)
Focus on access to health and social services such as drug treatment centres and recovery programs	49
Both approaches are equally appropriate	35
Focus on police enforcement such as criminal charges and jail time	7
Neither approach is appropriate	6

Question: Which of the following approaches do you feel is more appropriate to address substance use among people who use drugs?

Source: PCO Survey on Current Issues, February 27 to March 12, 2023

Base: All respondents (Canada: n= 2,000)

Figure 2: Attitudes towards approaches to address substance use among people who use drugs for specific populations

Figure 2a - Text description

Figure 2a: Focus on access to health and social services

Group	Percentage (%)
Canada	49
BC	50
AB	40
MB/SK	47
ON	51
QC	52
ATL	51
Men	43
Women	55
Indigenous	52
Non-Indigenous	49
Ages 18 to 34	51
Ages 35 to 54	50
Ages 55 and over	48
High school or Less	41
Trade/College	46
University	58
Under $40K	41
$40K to $100K	52
$100K or more	53
Immigrant	41
Non-immigrant	53

Figure 2b - Text description

Figure 2b: Focus on police enforcement

Group	Percentage (%)
Canada	7
BC	4
AB	9
MB/SK	5
ON	7
QC	9
ATL	4
Men	9
Women	5
Indigenous	11
Non-Indigenous	7
Ages 18 to 34	7
Ages 35 to 54	7
Ages 55 and over	7
High school or Less	12
Trade/College	7
University	5
Under $40K	11
$40K to $100K	6
$100K or more	6
Immigrant	8
Non-immigrant	7

Figure 2c - Text description

Figure 2c: Both approaches are equally appropriate

Group	Percentage (%)
Canada	35
BC	37
AB	40
MB/SK	36
ON	35
QC	32
ATL	34
Men	38
Women	32
Indigenous	26
Non-Indigenous	35
Ages 18 to 34	33
Ages 35 to 54	34
Ages 55 and over	37
High school or Less	36
Trade/College	38
University	31
Under $40K	37
$40K to $100K	34
$100K or more	34
Immigrant	41
Non-immigrant	33

Question: Which of the following approaches do you feel is more appropriate to address substance use among people who use drugs?

Source: PCO Survey on Current Issues, February 27 to March 12, 2023

Base: All respondents (Canada: n= 2,000)

Figure 3 - Text description

Figure 3: Attitudes towards people who use drugs and decriminalization

Prompt	Strongly/somewhat agree (%)	Neither agree nor disagree (%)	Strongly/somewhat disagree (%)
I would like my friends or family members who use drugs to feel comfortable talking to me about it	88	3	7
I have empathy for people struggling with drug use	81	4	13
I believe decriminalization would make it easier to access health and social services such as drug treatment centers and recovery programs	62	7	27
I believe decriminalizing drugs would reduce the stigma towards people who use drugs	56	7	34
I believe decriminalizing drugs would increase harms associated with drug use such as overdoses	51	7	38
I believe decriminalizing drugs would make my community less safe	43	8	46

Question: To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements?

Source: PCO Survey on Current Issues, February 27 to March 12, 2023

Base: All respondents (Canada: n= 2,000)

Knowledge

Questions testing Canadians' knowledge of the exemption in BC focused on:

• differences between the exemption and legalization
• the role of police in enforcing the exemption
• details about which activities involving drugs are covered by the exemption in BC

57% to 62% of Canadians, depending on the question, were able to correctly identify details of BC's exemption (Figure 4). However, 18% to 24% of respondents answered incorrectly and 15% to 19% were unsure of the answer.

Increased knowledge of the details of BC's exemption were shown by (Figure 5):

• BC respondents
• those aged 18 to 34 years
• those with higher education and income levels
• Canadian-born respondents

Figure 4 - Text description

Figure 4: Knowledge of the details of BC's exemption

Prompt	True (%)	False (%)	Not sure (%)
Police officers can provide resources available to help people who use drugs	66	18	15
People carrying small amounts of certain illegal drugs for personal use are no longer arrested or charged for personal possession	62	21	17
It is now legal to possess any type of drugs, people carrying illegal drugs are no longer being stopped by the police	23	60	17
Police officers no longer monitor street level drug use	24	57	19

Question: Based on your understanding of the decriminalization of personal possession of drugs being implemented in British Columbia, are the following statements true or false? (Correct answers are highlighted in darker cells)

Source: PCO Survey on Current Issues, April 17 to 30, 2023

Base: All respondents (Canada: n= 2,000)

Figure 5 - Text description

Figure 5: Knowledge of the details of BC's exemption for specific populations

Group	Index score
Canada	62
BC	68
AB	61
MB/SK	60
ON	59
QC	63
ATL	61
Men	61
Women	62
Ages 18 to 34	65
Ages 35 to 54	60
Ages 55 and over	61
High school or Less	58
Trade/College	60
University	66
Under $40K	53
$40K to $100K	63
$100K or more	67
Parents with kids under the age of 18	62
No kids under 18	62
Immigrant	55
Born in Canada	64
Rural	63
Urban	62

BC's exemption understanding index: Respondents get 25 points for each correct answer. A respondent who answers all four questions correctly gets a score of 100 (range: 0-100)

Source: PCO Survey on Current Issues, April 17 to 30, 2023

Base: All respondents (Canada: n= 2,000)

Conclusion

The results from this survey reflect the knowledge and attitudes of Canadian adults around drug decriminalization and the exemption in BC. These results will serve as a baseline to monitor key outcomes of the exemption, particularly public awareness and understanding of the details of the exemption and substance use. Health Canada's work will continue to compliment monitoring and evaluation work being led by the BC Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.