Avi Lewis is one of the most aggressive proponents of full drug decriminalization in Canadian politics. His position goes well beyond decriminalization for personal use. He advocates for a fully legal, government-funded "safe supply" of heroin, fentanyl and crystal meth — paid for by the taxpayer.
In December 2021, Lewis posted on Twitter (now X): "And today of all days, we must say: confront the toxic drug supply claiming way more lives than Covid. It's mass murder by complacency. We need legal safe supply. NOW."
By May 2024, the British Columbia decriminalization experiment was producing visible harm — overdoses, public drug use in hospitals and parks, and a sharp public backlash. Rather than reconsider the policy, Lewis amplified the most aggressive defenders of the status quo. He quote-tweeted drug-policy activist Garth Mullins who attacked recriminalization advocates: "To the politicians on the right: I say, please stop standing on a stack of our corpses to try and reach high office. It is the most despicable, grim opportunism that I've ever seen."
The accusation — that politicians who oppose taxpayer-funded distribution of fentanyl and methamphetamine are standing "on a stack of corpses" to advance their careers — turns a serious public-health debate into a moral attack. It also signals exactly how Lewis intends to govern that debate as NDP leader: any disagreement with maximalist harm-reduction will be cast as bad-faith political opportunism.
Notably, Avi Lewis lives in the comfortable Kitsilano neighbourhood of Vancouver. He does not live in the Downtown Eastside, where his preferred drug policy plays out daily in needles, overdoses and shattered families.