10,000 signatures reached
To: Federal MPs
Drug Policies are Killing People!
Over 25,000 Canadians have died since 2016 due to the poisoned drug supply. We have it in our power to prevent these deaths right now! Moms Stop The Harm (MSTH) is requesting your support for Bill C-216, An Act to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and implement a National Strategy on Substance Use.
MP Gord Johns has presented this private Member’s bill to Parliament. Bill C-216 is designed to treat substance use and addiction as health issues by decriminalizing personal drug possession, providing for record expungement, ensuring low-barrier access to safe supply, and expanding access to harm reduction, treatment and recovery services. We need to support people who use substances, rather than lock them up.
MSTH firmly believes that we need Bill C-216 if we are ever going to adequately address the overdose and drug poisoning crisis. Because of the stigma related to the ongoing criminalization of substance use, people use and die alone, as many of our loved ones have. We understand that decriminalization needs to be combined with other measures to have the desired outcomes in saving lives, but this key legislative proposal would, if implemented, allow the country to shift needed resources from the justice system to health and social services.
Please support Bill C-216! #BillC-216 (https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/bill/C-216/first-reading)
MP Gord Johns has presented this private Member’s bill to Parliament. Bill C-216 is designed to treat substance use and addiction as health issues by decriminalizing personal drug possession, providing for record expungement, ensuring low-barrier access to safe supply, and expanding access to harm reduction, treatment and recovery services. We need to support people who use substances, rather than lock them up.
MSTH firmly believes that we need Bill C-216 if we are ever going to adequately address the overdose and drug poisoning crisis. Because of the stigma related to the ongoing criminalization of substance use, people use and die alone, as many of our loved ones have. We understand that decriminalization needs to be combined with other measures to have the desired outcomes in saving lives, but this key legislative proposal would, if implemented, allow the country to shift needed resources from the justice system to health and social services.
Please support Bill C-216! #BillC-216 (https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/bill/C-216/first-reading)
Why is this important?
The poisoned drug supply has affected people and communities across Canada. No region or demographic group remains untouched. Many young people are being taken from us too early, but our legislators have the power to stop this! After Portugal decriminalized possession, deaths due to drug use dropped by 80%. We have the information, the expertise and the resources to stop these deaths.
We just need our politicians to recognize the value of every life and change the policies that are killing people.
We just need our politicians to recognize the value of every life and change the policies that are killing people.
How it will be delivered
We will deliver the petition to the Prime Minister, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos and Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, Carolyn Bennett, along with NDP leader Jagmeet Singh and MP Gord Johns, the MP who has proposed Bill C-216 as a private member's bill. It needs support across party lines to be passed, though, so PLEASE email your local MP and ask for their support for Bill C-216!