Uncertainty clouds Toronto’s bid to decriminalize drugs [Video]

Toronto’s bid to decriminalize the possession of illegal drugs for personal use has been plunged into uncertainty in recent days, as drug policy experts suggest political debates over British Columbia’s backtracking on the issue have hurt the city’s application.

The prime minister and the federal minister for mental health and addictions have both separately said that the city doesn’t currently have an “active” application for the government to consider. 

Toronto Public Health, meanwhile, has said its application remains with Health Canada amid ongoing discussions.

Gillian Kolla, a public health researcher, says “it’s not at all clear what the holdup might be” for the more than two-year-old application. But she worries the process has been coloured by politicization, with the “very fulsome” bid at risk of not being judged on its merits.

“There seems to be a total lack of urgency on the part of the federal government to respond to …