As liberals across the country continue to push for the legalization or at least decriminalization of pretty much everything short of murder, you might find yourself wondering where all of this is heading. Predicting the future remains tricky, but we are probably seeing a hint of things to come in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Last year, the province decriminalized nearly all drugs, including some of the hardest and most dangerous, not wanting to simply incarcerate lots of people or infringe on their rights. (Bless their hearts.) So how is that working out? As Fox News reports this week, not so well. Drug overdoses are now the number one cause of death in British Columbia for a huge majority of the population, including all people from ages 10 to 59. In fact, drug ODs account for more deaths than natural diseases, homicides, and suicides combined.

Half a year after the Canadian province of British Columbia decriminalized a wide range of hard drugs, including fentanyl, drug overdoses are the leading cause of death for the majority of Canadians in the region.

In a press release on Monday, the office of Public Safety and Solicitor General said that 1,018 British Columbians were “lost” to drug overdoses between January and May, which represents a 2.9% increase since the same time last year.

“Unregulated drug toxicity is now the leading cause of death in British Columbia for people aged 10 to 59, accounting for more deaths than homicides, suicides, accidents and natural disease combined,” the press release stated.

So how is this happening? Looking around at what’s happening in the United States, your first impulse might be to blame the influx of fentanyl (which the province also legalized) from China and Mexico. And that’s definitely a factor. The cartels’ shipments of the deadly drug are showing up in the Great White North as well as all across America.

But that alone clearly can’t account for the death rate being observed in British Columbia. There are more people dying from “unregulated drug toxicity” now (that’s apparently the polite term for ODing) because there are more people doing drugs. And there are more people doing drugs because you effectively legalized everything.

When you remove the disincentive for people to do something dangerous or illegal, more people are going to check it out. We’re curious creatures by nature. And when your government effectively gives a permission slip to give it a try, a certain percentage will think, ‘Why not?’ Unfortunately, fentanyl is reportedly so massively addictive that you only need to do it once or twice to become hooked. And it’s showing up mixed into a lot of other, normally less lethal drugs, so you can shuffle off this mortal coil without even realizing you’re doing it.

I find myself wondering if these lessons are ever going to start sinking in for progressives in the United States. We’re a nation of laws (or at least we used to be) and we have laws for a reason. Most are there to prevent you from being harmed by others. But some are there to hopefully help save you from yourself.

Eliminating all or most laws just so you can brag about how many fewer people we’re locking up isn’t doing anyone a favor. It’s not helping the people who inevitably wind up falling victim to all manner of crimes. But it’s also not helping those who inadvertently wind up dead or in the hospital from the restricted products that you allow them free access to. The only benefit coming from this particular form of virtue signaling accrues to the political careers of those imposing these changes. Hopefully, the tide will turn on this trend soon.