B.C. health authorities tried to allow purchase of regulated heroin without prescriptions, court hears

B.C. health authorities tried for four years to create a heroin compassion club whose members could purchase a regulated version of the drug without a prescription, an effort to reduce toxic-drug deaths that was ultimately derailed by political blowback.

Cheyenne Johnson, executive director of the BC Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU), testified to the efforts in British Columbia’s Supreme Court on Monday as part of a continuing constitutional challenge to Canada’s drug laws by Jeremy Kalicum and Eris Nyx.

The two were found guilty in November of trafficking for having operated an unsanctioned illicit drug compassion club from August, 2022, to October, 2023; their convictions are on hold pending the outcome of the challenge.