BEPPLE – New bylaw will push more drug use into hidden, unsafe places

Rather than creating bylaws targeting open drug use, it’s time to find ways to expand harm reduction for smoking and inhalation which is where the majority of deaths are occurring

I ATTENDED the International Overdose Awareness Day events in Kamloops this week hosted by Moms Stop the Harm and Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc. There, along with information booths, and naloxone training, a film was shown.

The theatre was full of families and friends who had lost loved ones, as well as service providers who have seen so many die in Kamloops.

The film, Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy by filmmaker Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers traces the effects of substance use on her Kainai First Nation in southern Alberta, as well as the community’s response to the substance use and overdose deaths.

The title of the film comes from the nation’s approach, where kindness is central.

The film shows how the community has taken a balanced approach. Individuals who want to take an abstinence approach are supported through programs such as residential recovery programs, or Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous.

However, there is an acknowledgement that not every person can follow that path. In that case, there are options such as methadone and suboxone for people with opioid addictions, or regulated alcohol programs for people using alcohol or products such as mouthwash or hand sanitizer.

Harm reduction is central to the Kainai First Nation approach.

Kamloops is in an unregulated, toxic drug overdose crisis. This year, until the end of July, there have been 33 drug overdose deaths in Kamloops from unregulated drugs. Since 2017, there have been 442 deaths in our community. In the B.C. Interior, in 79 per cent of deaths fentanyl was detected. The death rate is 74.9 per 100,000 in Kamloops for 2023, far above the provincial average of 46.2.

The vast majority of deaths take place in private places. In the B.C. Interior, 60 per cent die in private residences. Another 14 per cent die in other types of residences. There are 4 per cent who die in other inside places. The majority are dying by smoking (2 out of 3), with far fewer dying by injecting drugs.

Only 14 per cent die outside.

People use drugs in Kamloops in inside places. And die in inside places.

While I was watching the film, which followed the paths to stability for many and death for some, I kept thinking back to the proposed bylaw that is currently being crafted for Kamloops.

Proposed by Coun. Katie Neustaeter few months ago, the bylaw could ban drug use in public spaces in Kamloops. The bylaw is in response to the Province’s decriminalization of possession of small quantities of illegal drugs for personal use. Neustaeter’s concern was that allowing possession of drugs allows for open drug use throughout the city. The goal is to curb street disorder and give the City tools to address open drug use.

The bylaw is not yet passed, but given the support from fellow councillors so far, it looks like it will.

Street disorder is a problem in Kamloops. Needles in playgrounds is a concern in Kamloops. But people dying alone, at twice the provincial rates which are already six times higher than when the opioid crisis started, is an absolute tragedy.

They are dying, for the most part, out of sight in private places. They are dying primarily by smoking or inhaling their drugs.

Currently Interior Health only provides safe injection harm reduction services. Last month in the B.C. Interior, 60 per cent died by smoking, and 29 per cent died by nasal insufflation/snorting, whereas only nine per cent died by injection drug use.

I am drawn to the approach of the Kainai First Nation, which centers their approach first on harm reduction, and then options of recovery such as abstinence. I see nothing of that in a bylaw that’s focus is reducing the number of people openly using drugs on our streets. It will push more drug use into hidden, unsafe places.

Rather than creating bylaws targeting open drug use, it’s time to find ways to expand harm reduction for smoking and inhalation which is where the majority of deaths are occurring.

Finally, I was impressed with the open and frank messaging the Kainai First Nation has about the harms of drugs, and the services available. The film showed billboards and posters throughout their nation.

It’s time for the City of Kamloops to be more blunt with its messages to help protect the people who use unregulated toxic drugs in our community too. We owe it to all the families and friends of the 442 individuals who have died in Kamloops since 2017.

Thanks to Moms Stop the Harm and Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc for bringing our community together.

Nancy Bepple is a Kamloops City councillor with a strong interest in community building projects.