Adults in this Pacific coast province cannot be arrested or charged for possession of personal doses of up to 2.5 grams of hard drugs, and police cannot confiscate the product.
Instead, users will receive information on how to access medical help for addictions.
“For too many years, ideological opposition to harm reduction has cost lives,” Bennett said at a news conference announcing the pilot program.
“We do this to save lives, but also to give drug users their dignity and decision-making,” he said, adding that it would become “a model for other jurisdictions in Canada.”
Kennedy Stewart, the mayor of Vancouver — the epicenter of the opioid crisis — said the decision “fundamentally reframes drug policy to favor health care over wives.”
Calling it a “historic, brave and pioneering step in the fight to save lives from the poisonous drug crisis,” he added that it would also reduce petty crime that is often related to addiction.
Several Canadian cities, including Montreal and Toronto, have indicated a desire for similar exemptions.
The small, left-wing New Democratic Party will present a bill to Parliament on Wednesday to decriminalize drug possession across the country, though it is expected to be defeated.