“Technically it is allowed because nothing happens:” Peer-reviewed study by P.O.W.E.R. published
Findings from the ‘recriminalization’ period are now published in the International Journal of Drug Policy
Peer-reviewed research conducted by P.O.W.E.R. has been published in the International Journal of Drug Policy. It is the first peer-reviewed research drawing on data collected through P.O.W.E.R.’s operations.
The research explores practices and behaviours of law enforcement toward people in Vancouver during the “recriminalization” period of British Columbia’s so-called decriminalization framework. Recriminalization refers to the May 2024 amendment that stopped BC’s decriminalization framework from applying in almost all outdoor space (up until the framework was allowed to expire last month).
P.O.W.E.R. previously commented on how the labyrinth of policy that made up BC’s short-lived decriminalization framework experiment was set up to fail the public.
In the newly published research, participants described not only confusion over the evolving decriminalization framework, but the ways in which criminalization persisted throughout the time the framework was implemented — the study focused on the Downtown Eastside.
Study participants described undocumented seizures of personal belongings, including possessions that are provided by other publicly-funded services, such as food and sterile drug use equipment.
Alarmingly, multiple participants brought attention to Vancouver Police Department officers physically blocking people from responding to overdoses in the community. (P.O.W.E.R. released previous statements about this form of obstruction from non-study participants).
Study participants described how law enforcement practices contributed to processes of dehumanization. For example, one person perceived VPD practices this way:
“You could have your things stolen by the police, you could be physically harmed, you could be just made to look like less of a human, anything. Like, you just don’t know what’s going to happen, and it’s that uncertainty, I think, that really puts people on edge and makes this division of the police and the public. There’s a reason why the public doesn’t like the police…it’s not just out of nowhere.”
You can read the full study by clicking here; and you can find all peer-reviewed research affiliated with P.O.W.E.R. by clicking here.