That would appear to not be working all that well.
It seems like better support, in-particular around medium and long-term care and treatment of both the medical and social conditions that got the junkie to an overdose might actually work to solve the issue. With certainty, making drugs ‘more illegal’ is how we got to where we are with fentanyl.
I don’t get the impression current policies in either country (US/Canada) are designed to actually break the cycle of dependency and overdose. With certainty, what we spend on punishment for simple possession could be much better spent on programming that is designed to actually rehabilitate.
But it’s complex. Obviously, if simple-possession isn’t a crime, it’s going to be much tougher to find or charge low-level dealers, which is the only way, other than luck, that you get distributors. Any move towards decriminalization is going to draw similar criticisms from our neighbours as we faced when we briefly decriminalized pot in 2006.
I’m not sure we’ll solve this without somehow regulating the entire world, or moving to punish countries that allow the manufacturing and distribution of opioids like fentanyl in the current numbers it’s being manufactured. Targeting manufacturers through tighter regulations, incentives like market access for their other products, or somehow targeting the country as a whole without violating trade agreements, seems like the way to go.