British Columbia’s NDP government introduced new legislation on Thursday that would make it illegal to use drugs in almost any public space, a major reverse from their decriminalization policy implemented only eight months before.
The law would ban drug use within 15 metres of a park, playground, splash pool, sports field, skate park, or beach and the distance reduces to six metres near any residence, business, recreation centre or what’s considered to be a public space.
“Decriminalization was never about the ability to use hard drugs wherever you wanted and this law makes that very clear,” said B.C. Premier David Eby during a news conference on Thursday morning.
Eby said that people will be moved to various supervised consumption sites that will offer addiction and health services, according to the Vancouver Sun.
In January, the federal government granted a three-year exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act with the hopes of removing the stigma of drug addiction and to reduce the amount of overdose deaths, however the latest push to ban drug use is a significant step away from the aims of proponents of decriminalization.
B.C.’s chief coroner Lisa Lapointe said the legislation, if passed, would be “tremendously disappointing” to have to watch the government pass legislation “that attempts to push people into back alleys and back corners.”
“People are being set up to fail and die,” said Vince Tao of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users. “This is a huge step back,” he said. “I think we can altogether admit that decriminalization is dead.”
Lapointe endorsed the decriminalization pilot project as a means to treat drug use as a health crisis instead of a criminal one, saying, “any changes that put more lives at risk are a significant concern to me.”
She disagrees with the government’s notion that the new legislature is designed for “helping people feel safe.”
“I think this is about a perception of safety,” said Lapointe. “This is a provincial piece of legislation that potentially reinforces the sense that you are at risk from people who use drugs, which is just simply not true.”
B.C. United party Leader Kevin Falcon argued that public drug use does in fact pose a harm to British Columbians, citing an incident where a kindergartener in Nanaimo found a packet of fentanyl on the grounds of her elementary school in April and brought it home.
“I cannot believe that there’s anybody out there that thinks reasonable limits on open drug use is somehow a bad thing,” said Falcon, who believes that the NDP’s proposed changes are an admission that the decriminalization project has only led to “flagrant” drug use in public spaces.
Eby denied that the new legislation was a step backward from the initial decriminalization policy brought into effect in January.
The policy stated that people over the age of 18 caught with a total of 2 ½ grams or less of opioids, cocaine, and amphetamines would no longer face criminal charges or mandatory treatment.
Additionally, they would be allowed to retain possession of their drugs.
Eby and Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth have admitted that since the policy came into effect that they have received a number of complaints from mayors, business owners and citizens about the spike in public drug use, especially in areas designated for children.
Ebay said the new regulation would treat illegal drugs the same as cigarettes, alcohol and cannabis, all of which are already restricted in public.
It also states that police must first ask a person who consumes drugs in those areas to stop or leave the area and only if they don’t comply, then police can make an arrest and seize their drugs.
The new legislation has been supported by Vancouver Police Department Deputy Chief Fiona Wilson who said that police officers are “recognizing that we must apply our discretion and utilize the Act only when behaviour is problematic or repeated.”
