Ethnic, First Nations British Columbians Reject Idea That Criminalizing Drugs Is Racist: Survey

A person receives a tested supply of cocaine in Vancouver, on Feb 9, 2022. Several groups distributed a tested supply of illicit drugs to users in a call for a safer drug supply. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

The vast majority of ethnic and indigenous British Columbians reject the notion that drug criminalization is racist. The findings appear in a new study at the same time the provincial government says in a policy paper that drug prohibition is “based on a history of racism.”

More than half of non-white residents in B.C. disagreed that criminalizing drugs is racist, according to an Oct. 15 survey by the Centre For Responsible Drug Policy (CRDP) and the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. Nearly 70 percent of First Nations and those who describe themselves as multiracial share the same opinion, at 67.6 percent and 69.9 percent respectively.

“What I’ve come across time and time again is community leaders saying that the people around them don’t actually want drug legalization,” Adam Zivo, executive director of the CRDP, told The Epoch Times. “There’s a very conspicuous gap between what policymakers are saying, and what I’m hearing off the ground from minority communities themselves.”

The survey was conducted to analyze the provincial government’s “anti-racist approach” to drug policy that says drug prohibition “is based on a history of racism, white supremacy, paternalism, colonialism, classism, and human rights violations,” as stated in a July 2024 special report from provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.

Her report said “settler colonial governments and institutions” have created conditions in which substance use “disproportionately” harms indigenous populations and that “reducing substance harms through decolonization is a shared responsibility across all government portfolios.”

Henry said in the report that the B.C. government’s approach to drug policy reflects what she and other officials have heard from thousands of families who have been affected by the drug crisis.

Zivo said the government’s drug policies are “out of line” with the beliefs of minority communities, based on polling data, and activist groups who are guiding such policies “reflect a segment of their communities but don’t reflect the entirety of their community.”

The survey’s preliminary findings are being released ahead of the Oct. 19 election in B.C., where the opioid crisis and drug policy are key issues. The authors surveyed 6,320 adults aged 18 and over between Sept.  23 and Oct. 5.

Data is still being collected for a forthcoming report to be published later with a 90 percent larger sample size.

Opposition to the Racism Theory

First Nations participants showed some of the strongest opposition to the “criminalization is racism” theory, with 52.6 percent saying they “strongly disagree”—a figure around six times higher than those who say they “strongly agree” (8.5 percent). The study’s authors saw a similar trend among multiracial respondents, with those who strongly disagreed outnumbering those who strongly agreed by 6.5 times.

Among Asian participants, strong views were less polarizing, although the likelihood of disagreeing with the racism theory was still higher. Nearly 32 percent of South Asians said they “strongly disagree” with it, while 17.3 percent said they “strongly agree.” Among East Asians, the proportion of those who “strongly disagree” was only about four percentage points higher than those who “strongly agree,” at 28.1 percent and 23.8 percent respectively.

There was an almost even split between Asian participants who “somewhat agree” and those who “somewhat disagree,” and the authors noted they cannot draw definitive conclusions about Asian respondents, as the sample size is smaller and may be affected by the study’s margin of error. They said the upcoming full report will clarify the trend.

White Canadians were also more likely to strongly disagree with the “criminalization is racism” notion, at almost five times the rate of those who said they strongly agreed. Those who said they “somewhat” disagreed or agreed were almost evenly split, at 15.5 percent and 11.9 percent, respectively.

Drug Stigma

Opinions on the need to remove drug stigma were almost even between white British Columbians and those who identify as non-white. Among white respondents, the proportion who said there is a need to destigmatize drugs was only 0.3 percentage points higher than those who opposed the idea, at 44.3 percent and 44 percent, respectively. The remainder said they did not know.

Non-white participants reported a similar trend, with 43.5 percent saying there is no need to destigmatize drugs, and 41.1 percent saying there is. Almost a quarter of respondents in this group said they did not know.

Both East and South Asian participants appeared more likely to support drug destigmatization, with nearly 50 percent of East Asians saying drug stigma needs to decrease, compared to 29.3 percent who disagreed. Among South Asians, the difference was slightly smaller, with those in favour of destigmatization leading by about eight percentage points.

A slight majority of First Nations and multiracial respondents showed opposition to B.C.’s approach to drug policy, with 51.1 percent and 52.7 percent, respectively, saying there is no need to destigmatize drugs.