Learning from the Drug Policy Curriculum: People Who Use Drugs Policing in the Context of Decriminalization

Police officers have long been tasked with translating drug policies into practice; as a key public-facing side of the criminal justice system, they influence how drug policy messages are conveyed to the public through everyday enforcement practices. The government of British Columbia, Canada, received a 3-year exemption from federal drug laws to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of most illicit substances starting January 31, 2023. In this context, we explored what people who use drugs learned from drug policy as it was taken up into policing practice. We use constructs from curriculum theory as a framework to understand what policing explicitly and implicitly communicates to people who use drugs. We analyzed 40 qualitative interviews with people who use drugs in socioeconomically stable positions (housed and employed) in the first year of decriminalization in British Columbia to understand lessons gleaned from policy and policing in this policy context. Findings show that the formal curriculum of drug policy provided a sense of relief for many participants who could ease their fears of being labelled “criminals.” However, the way that drug policies were applied by officers in practice, making explicit a hidden curriculum, shaped how participants saw themselves and other people who use drugs in ways that were stigmatizing. Our research shows the value of analyzing the hidden curriculum of drug policy to illuminate how it shapes the way in which people who use drugs construct and position themselves.