VIDEO – TRUTH LOSES –
Jan. 16, 2026 – A B.C. psychologist who led a major study into addiction and criminality is speaking out now that the government is shutting down its decriminalization experiment.
Health Minister Josie Osborne announced on Wednesday that the controversial trial project would end on Jan. 31, admitting it hadn’t achieved the results the government had wanted.
A clinical psychologist from Simon Fraser University, who opposed the decriminalization plan, was part of a two-decade study that spanned addiction, homelessness, housing and the justice system.
“We were looking at everyone who was diagnosed with an addiction, involved with courts or corrections and experiencing other kinds of hardship,” Julian Somers said.
Forty million dollars was spent and dozens of academic papers were published based on that data.
One conclusion was that getting people properly housed was a top predictor of success for people suffering from addiction.
