British Columbia’s decision to ban the use of illicit drugs in close proximity to public spaces like playgrounds, residences and businesses is being challenged in a lawsuit by the Harm Reduction Nurses Association.
The province began its three-year pilot project of decriminalizing possession of illicit drugs in small quantities earlier this year.
However last month, the provincial government made an amendment to ban the use of drugs near public and recreational spaces, a move that the Harm Reduction Nurses Association is calling a violation of people’s rights.
The group claims that the Restricting Public Consumption of Illegal Substances Act infringes on various Charter rights, including the protection of life, liberty and security, protection against cruel and unusual punishment, and protection against discrimination.
The lawsuit has named the province of B.C. and the attorney general as defendants.
According to a separate notice filed in court, lawyers for the Pivot Legal Society have also filed an application under the B.C. Constitutional Question Act, challenging its validity.
The lawsuit has stated that the 76 members of the nurse’s association in B.C. have experienced the “harms of systemic oppression” brought on by police interactions, displacement, seizures and imprisonment.
Some of the nurses have said that they use drugs themselves or that they have close family and friends who do.
It went on to say that from January to September of 2023, 1,645 people died from overdoses in B.C.
They claim those most affected by the drug crisis are the homeless, people on social assistance and Indigenous people.
The province however, has said that the reason for restricting illegal drug use near areas like playgrounds, splash pools, skate parks, sports fields, beaches and parks is to reduce the potential harm illicit drugs can have on families and places where children gather.
According to the Vancouver Sun, the act has been “vocally opposed” by Indigenous organizations and various community groups due to their belief that the act will put drug users at “extreme risk, especially given a dire lack of safe, legal places to use drugs” in the province.
The Harm Reduction Nurses Association is asking that the court declare the new law outside of provincial powers, alleging that the act creates new criminal offences for conduct that had previously been decriminalized under the pilot project.
Since the act prohibits users from remaining in the aforementioned areas, a person could now be charged by a police officer if they reasonably believe that a person recently used illicit drugs in one of those spaces “even if that person is no longer consuming or never consumed there,” said the lawsuit.
None of these allegations have been proven in court thus far and the province has yet to file a response.
