Hi everyone, Mark Iype in Edmonton today.
A little over a year after B.C. launched its decriminalization pilot project allowing the use of illicit drugs in a variety of public places, Premier David Eby said Friday that the province is rolling the program back.
Faced with a recent outcry from health care workers who expressed concern about patients using drugs in hospitals, as well as criticism from municipal leaders and conservative politicians at both the provincial and federal level, Eby said he has asked Health Canada to amend the drug law exemption underpinning the program.
“I share the concerns that so many British Columbians have about the public drug use that they’re seeing in their communities and it’s clear to me that police need the authorities to be able to address this issue, as well as other extraordinary circumstances where someone’s safety may be at risk – that should have been in place,” he said.
The province is in its eighth year confronting the public health crisis from the toxic drug supply that has killed thousands over that time.
While there is no specific timeline yet when the changes will take effect, Eby said people will still be able to use a handful of illicit substances inside their own homes, in their tents if they are living in sanctioned parks or at drug-checking or supervised-consumption sites.
Under the new prohibition, police will be able to force people to stop using or leave the area if they are caught anywhere in public, including hospitals, restaurants, transit, parks and beaches.
Vancouver Police Deputy Chief Fiona Wilson, standing beside Eby at the news conference, said most people using drugs go out of their way to avoid consuming in front of children and families, but the new ban will give officers the authority to intervene and even arrest users in the rare circumstance they cause problems.
Last week, Wilson testified at the House of Commons health committee that officers don’t believe arresting public drug users is necessarily the solution to the addiction crisis. But she said decriminalization went ahead without “fulsome” guardrails against public consumption.
As The Globe’s Andre Picard wrote recently, “decriminalization has taken a beating in the court of public opinion.” But he argued it remains sound public policy.
“It makes no sense to arrest, prosecute and imprison people for possessing small quantities of drugs that they put into their own bodies. But we need to be clear about what decriminalization is – and isn’t,” he argued.
As he said, it is not a free-for-all. People who are using still have responsibilities to the public and they are not exempt from other laws.
Earlier Friday, Jennifer Whiteside, B.C.’s Minister for Mental Health and Addictions, met with her federal counterpart Ya’ara Saks, to ask the federal Liberal government to review the current exemptions to the decriminalization pilot.
Friday’s announcement was a result of that meeting.
While provincial Opposition Leader Kevin Falcon, of the BC United Party, was pleased with the decision, he said in a statement that if his party is elected, his party would immediately end the decriminalization pilot completely.
This is the weekly Western Canada newsletter written by B.C. Editor Wendy Cox and Alberta Bureau Chief Mark Iype. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters here.
Wendy Cox