CITY COUNCIL – So-called ‘drugs-in-parks’ bylaw heads toward implementation

The so-called “drugs-in-parks” bylaw found favour, as expected, at today’s (Sept. 12, 2023) Kamloops City council meeting.

The bylaw was first proposed in March and, after some amendments, came back for council’s consideration. It will prohibit drug consumption in public places such as parks, playgrounds, beaches and pools, or on sidewalks within a hundred meters of designated areas.

It comes as a response to the provincial government’s program that allows possession and consumption of small amounts of illicit drugs.

Nancy Bepple was the only councillor to vote against giving the bylaw — which now must come back for a final vote on adoption — its first three readings.

She said it’s hard for the public to watch open drug use but, “We will be forcing people (drug users) into dark alleys and washrooms.. where they will still be unsafe.”

Telling them to go to supervised injection sites isn’t good enough because those sites don’t provide for consuming drugs by inhaling them, which is currently the prevailing method.

Coun. Mike O’Reilly objected to Bepple’s description of the bylaw as “extreme,” saying the provincial government “put the cart before the horse” by allowing public consumption without having proper treatment programs in place.

“We need to put our foot down and say there are areas in our city that drugs can’t be done.”

To Bepple’s comment that the City could likely face a court challenge over the bylaw, Coun. Bill Sarai said, “Hell, let’s get it to the courts.”

At the same meeting, a motion by Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson to set up a program for helping homeless people return to their home communities was withdrawn for revision. More on that in tomorrow’s Armchair Mayor editorial.