Canada grants license to company to produce and sell cocaine

The Canadian federal government has licensed Sunshine Earth, a biotechnology company, to produce and sell cocaine. The move comes as part of a three-year pilot project to tackle the stigma associated with drug use and to provide a safer supply of drugs for people experiencing addiction. This initiative follows a radical change in the position of the Canadian state, which is trying to deal with a serious crisis of opiate overdoses that have caused thousands of deaths.

Advocates for the measure say the stigma associated with drug use prevents some from seeking help, and people with addictions face an increased risk of overdoses from illegally purchased drugs in the community. Street. That’s why the government granted a Criminal Code waiver in January to the province of British Columbia (west) for this pilot project.

Sunshine Earth Labs has thus received permission from Health Canada to “legally possess, produce, sell and distribute coca leaf and cocaine”, as well as morphine, ecstasy and heroin. A similar license was offered in February to another company, Adastra Labs, which until then had been manufacturing products related to cannabis extracts. This company has also received permission to produce psilocybin and psilocin, hallucinogens more commonly associated with mushrooms whose consumption produces effects similar to LSD.

British Columbia thus follows the American state of Oregon (northwest) which decriminalized so-called hard drugs in November 2020. The province is the epicenter of a crisis which has seen more than 10,000 people die of overdose since a public health emergency was declared in 2016. This represents around six daily deaths, out of a population of some five million.

This license granted to Sunshine Earth nevertheless raises questions about the consequences of such a measure. While supporters of the initiative see it as a step forward in reducing harm from drug use, critics fear it will further trivialize the use of illegal substances. The debate on the decriminalization of drugs and the reduction of the risks associated with their use therefore remains complex and still divides today.

Follow with We all news of Benign a you Continent