B.C.’s Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Jennifer Whiteside said British Columbians can expect to see fewer people use drugs in public after Ottawa has granted B.C.’s request to amend decriminalization.
But parts of the political opposition say Ottawa’s approval will not fundamentally fix the toxic drug crisis.
“We are certainly…anticipating that we will see, as British Columbians had asked for, a reduction in the people experiencing and seeing and witnessing and being proximate to public drug use,” Whiteside said. “That is certainly what I expect in the coming months as we continue to work on the health care objectives that we have.”
Whiteside made this promise, while she was speaking with B.C.’s Public Safety and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth after Ottawa had granted B.C.’s request to make illicit drug use illegal in all public spaces including parks, hospitals and on transit.
B.C’s NDP government had asked the federal government on April 26 to make illicit drug use illegal in all public spaces including parks, hospitals and on transit following months of pressure from the public, police and parts of the political opposition.
Federal Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Ya’ara Saks announced Ottawa’s approval Tuesday (May 7) at a scrum with reporters.
“We have said ‘yes’ and it’s effective immediately,” Saks said.“This is a health crisis, not a criminal one,” she added. “That being said, communities need to be safe. People need to have confidence that in their own communities, they can move about freely and feel comfortable and engaged.”
The original terms of the pilot project prohibited police from arresting, charging or seizing adults in possession of up to 2.5 grams of heroin, cocaine, crack, crystal meth, MDMA or fentanyl. The three-year program started on Jan. 31, 2023 after Ottawa had issued the exemption in May 2022 following B.C.’s initial request in November 2021. Advocates had been lobbying to decriminalize personal possession of drugs in efforts to reduce stigma and those using alone in the face of the toxic drug crisis.
The approved changes to the legality of drug possession in B.C. would not re-criminalize possession in private residences, overdose prevention sites, drug-checking locations or other places where individuals are legally sheltering. But the changes will give police power to enforce public drug use restrictions, including the power to arrest individuals under exceptional circumstances.
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Farnworth said his ministry is currently finalizing “guidance” for police. “What we have done is listened to communities, to police in terms of dealing with public drug use,” Farnworth said. “Decriminalization was never about using drugs in public, ever.”
He added that this why government past fall brought forward legislation currently held up in the courts. Not one, but two courts rulings have held up legislation from coming into effect as it faces a constitutional challenge. B.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson said in the initial ruling that legislation “poses a sufficiently high probability of irreparable harm” by pushing drug users into places where it will be less safe to consume drugs.
Farnworth signalled his government has no plans to withdraw that legislation. “It’s the subject of a court and that court case continues,” he said. “Open drug use is not legal now, we have never supported public drug use, and we will not be supporting public drug use.”
Garth Mullins, drug user advocate, decried Ottawa’s decision on X. “(Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users) asked to meet the minister before this decision. NO reply. No consultation with any drug user org or Core Planning Table which worked on this project for years.”
He said political support for decriminalization was low, if it ever existed. “No government ever wanted decrim,” he wrote. “They never explained it to voters. Decrim has become a convenient scapegoat for all society’s problems that long pre-existed a small (15-month-long) pilot project. There are tent camps (and) high (overdose) deaths rates in provinces with no decrim.”
No government ever wanted decrim. They never explained it to voters. Decrim has become a convenient scapegoat for all society's problems that long pre-existed a small, 15 month pilot project. There are tent camps & high OD deaths rates in provinces with no decrim.
— Garth Mullins (@garthmullins) May 7, 2024
B.C. United’s Elenore Sturko, MLA for Surrey South, said Tuesday’s decision shifts the burden of the toxic drug crisis back on police.
“You heard it today from the minister…the police now have the tool to move people on,” she said. “But the problem is, where are they moving people on to? The reality is that for a lot of communities in B.C., this is simply putting this problem back onto the laps of police with no way actually to guide people to the help they need.”
Tuesday’s move comes less than six months before voters cast their ballots in the next provincial election.
“Today, they (voters) may see this and think that the government is being active,” Sturko said, when asked what impact it might on the choices of undecided voters concerned about the issue. “In fact, they (government) are being reactive. In the long run, this will do nothing to actually address the big problem that we have here in B.C.”
Sturko, whose party has been calling for the end of decriminalization, said the current government has been in power for seven of the eight years since the declaration of the toxic drug crisis as public health emergency.
“They have had very opportunity to scale up services,” Sturko said.
These changes do nothing to address the root causes of our public health emergency. #bcpoli https://t.co/nbPEwJZN6V
— Elenore Sturko (@elenoresturko) May 7, 2024
A milder version of this criticism also appeared to shimmer through in Saks’ comments.
“There are lot of lessons to be learned,” Saks said. “What we know is health supports need to be readily available in a timely manner, for those who are seeking help when they are using substances. B.C. has committed (to) that and continues to grow and scale out their health services and we’re supportive of that.”
Whiteside said B.C. has the highest number of overdose prevention sites per capita, adding province will continue to add to them, as well as other services.
“Our government has made the most significant investment in mental health and substance use treatment that this province has ever seen,” Whiteside said. “There is much more to work do to be sure, but we have never seen an expansion of our mental health and substance use system as we’ve seen in the last couple of years.”
She also pointed to “unprecedented” investments in supportive housing in noting the link between homelessness and drug use.
Ottawa’s decision to amend the terms of B.C.’s decriminalization and its impact will likely receive considerable scrutiny
Saks said Ottawa understood the “urgency” of B.C.’s request, but added that this decision was not “based on knee-jerk reactions.”
She also pushed back against the suggestion that decriminalization was a failure.
“No, absolutely not,” she said. “We have said from the get-go that we will adjust and analyze as we move forward. This is the first time this has been done. As in any pilot, it is a process of learning.”