IN THE LEDGE – ‘Decriminalization is causing chaos in our communities’
Drugs and guns confiscated in traffic stop. (Image: RCMP file photo)
Excerpt from Question Period in the B.C. Legislature on Monday, April 22, 2024.
T. Stone: Every single day there’s more damning evidence that piles up against this Premier’s catastrophic experiment to decriminalize hard drugs like heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and fentanyl. Explosive recent police testimony confirms the reality of taxpayer-funded drug trafficking and that decriminalization is causing chaos in our communities, from hospitals to coffee shops.
The president of the B.C. Association of Chiefs of Police warns: “All the concerns we had have been realized.”
This soft-on-crime Premier is ignoring police, and he’s making communities across British Columbia increasingly less safe. It’s time he adopts B.C. United’s policy to end his failed and reckless decriminalization experiment. Will the Premier do that today?
Hon. D. Eby: Thank you to the member for the question.
The toxic drug crisis is a huge challenge in our province. We’ve got thousands of people dead. Up to a point, in this place, we were unified in recognizing that this is a non-partisan issue. We’re trying to keep people alive, trying to get them into treatment. An all-party committee did some important work.
I have, and I know every member of this place, has two concerns. One is: how do we stop the deaths? How do we stop the harm and the injury to British Columbians overdosing on toxic drugs?
Second is: addressing the issues of public use, disorder in the streets, people struggling with mental health and addiction using publicly.
We passed a law in this place that has been subject to an injunction by the court, supported by the chiefs of police. We’ll continue to work with police to ensure that they have the tools they need to ensure public order in our communities. We’re going to continue to recognize that addiction is a health challenge. We get people into treatment and get them the care that they need. We can do both those things, and we’re going to continue to work to deliver for British Columbians on those important issues.
The Speaker: House Leader of the Official Opposition, supplemental.
T. Stone: Well, it’s high time that this Premier actually works with police but also listens to police across this province. This Premier is actually completely out of touch with the chaos and the crisis that his deliberate policy choices, like decriminalization, are causing for British Columbians.
The chaos stems directly from this NDP Premier’s refusal to listen to the warnings from police who now find themselves powerless to do anything about people who are smoking crack cocaine on a beach or a park next to a family, smoking fentanyl inside of a hospital that’s full of patients and staff or shooting heroin on a transit bus or outside of a small business.
As deputy police chief Fiona Wilson confirmed, “These are all things that we raised prior to decriminalization taking effect that we don’t feel were adequately addressed.” Again, instead of continuing to ignore police warnings, will the Premier adopt B.C. United’s policy to end his reckless and failed decriminalization experiment and do so today?
Hon. J. Whiteside: Thank you to the member for the question. I think we can’t help but reflect, today, on the fact that we have just passed the 8th anniversary of the declaration of the public health emergency that is the toxic drug crisis in this province. Over the course of those years, we have lost over 14,000 British Columbians. Last year alone, we lost over 2,500 British Columbians.
We have come together not only in this House but with our partners — with law enforcement, health care, public health, municipalities, advocates and people with lived and living experience to turn our collective minds to how we can use every single tool possible to try to turn the tide on this terrible scourge that is taking the lives of so many British Columbians.
We will continue to do the work with our partners to ensure that this project, which we identified, which was a call, in part, in response to what law enforcement asked…. They came. They said: “We need to treat this not as a criminal matter. We need to treat addiction as a health matter.”
That is precisely what we are doing. We are making unprecedented investments in ensuring that people have a pathway to find support for the treatment that they need. We have just invested $117 million to stabilize the treatment beds that are provided by community partners so they can improve and stabilize their services.
We’ve just opened 20 beds two weeks ago in Lanceville dedicated for Indigenous youth in this province. We’ve opened 180 completely publicly funded beds earlier this year. We need to continue to do every single thing possible in order to turn the tide on the toxic drug crisis.
Source: BC Hansard
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Mr. Stone and Mr. Milobar all due respect for speaking out on this issue but decriminalization exemption applies in British Columbia alone and this is the problem. BC has become a home on our streets for Canada’s drug users and that is the problem. We need the wisdom of Solomon to deal with the problem where one province has decriminalized drug possession while the rest of Canada has not but Trudeau is not Solomon. In all other Canadian provinces and territories, the existing laws about illegal drugs continue to apply. The exemption does not change Canada’s border rules, and taking illegal drugs across domestic and international borders, even for personal use, remains illegal. Decriminalization is not associated with increased rates of substance use, while decriminalization in one province is associated with increased rates of substance use in BC. In Portugal, since decriminalization, rates of substance use and overdose deaths have remained below the European Union averages while before decriminalization it was above the EU average.
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BC has nothing in common with the often repeated refrain of “Portugal” when talking about decriminalization other than the word “decriminilzation”. Portugal has never condoned open drug use like what we see in BC, and is aggressive in stopping it when it happens. They do not tolerate the horse crap we see on the streets in BC. There is accountability there. Here there is none.
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Treat addiction as a health matter you say? Is palliative care on the streets good health care? Is giving free opioid pills to drug addicts to sell on for street drugs the gold standard of health care? Is letting people with severe mental health issues, and who are a danger to themselves and others just what the doctor ordered? It’s astounding to see what blindly following progressive ideology can do to our society.
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What do you suggest we do with people with severe mental health issues, put them in mental hospitals like we used to prior to your conservative ideologues closed them? What free opioids are being resold on the streets, a couple of hand fulls? This has been thoroughly debunked as a non issue as only a negligible few are actually being resold, bottom feeders will sink to the lowest lows to misrepresent the facts. But to answer your question, if my choice is safe drugs being resold on the streets vs deadly toxic drugs then yes, that’s the gold standard. Thankfully we have other options which are preventing even greater lives from being lost and progressive ideology has had far more success than the “just say no” mantra of your forgone conservative failed past.
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Absolutely. People with mental health issues that are a danger for themselves and others need to be placed under care of health authorities. Do you propose that the alternative – random stabbings, assaults, continuous outbursts and the general sense of unease when venturing out into the streets is acceptable? Is that your version of care and compassion? Street life with a mental health issue vs clean and safe facilities, healthy food, supervised treatment and rehabilitation? That all sounds bad to you? OK then.
In regard to diversion, police captains from multiple agencies have stated that 50% of opioids secured in trafficking busts are from BC safe supply. BC refuses to make safe supply opioids traceable with dyes or identifying shapes and markings. Why? BC doesn’t record safe supply opioid traces in coroner reports. Why? They don’t want the evidence to show what’s going on, that’s why.
Your claim that the current approach in BC is responsible for less deaths than a less permissive regime is pure conjecture and unsupported by evidence. Imagine policy decisions being made on whimsical assumptions when people’s lives are at stake? Conjecture that could only be verified with the use of time machines? Wow.
What do my personal politics have to do with this? I’m interested in science, evidence and solutions – is that conservative to you? What BC is doing is none of that.
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Of course we should have hospitals as treatment centres but it’s conservatives across the country who are shutting them down, you know, your guys the non progressives like Gordon Campbell and his right hand man Kevin Falcon.
The safe supply roll out is new, it’s bound to have some wrinkles which need ironing out, that doesn’t mean you throughout the baby with the bathwater. Yes, things need to be better regulated and they will be as we continue to learn. Dr Bonnie Henry, BC’s chief Dr, hired by the BC United and before that Ontario’s Conservative Party, clearly not a political hack, fully supports safe supply and in a February report called for an expansion of the programme. Dilaudid is the main safe supply drug that is being found on the street and it’s absolutely not the drug of choice by users because it doesn’t have the same “quality” high as street drugs. The primary driver in the overdosing we are seeing today is fentanyl, which isn’t in Dilaudid or any other safe supply drug. Yes it’s a dangerous drug but it’s a less dangerous drug safer supply of drug which is directly saving lives. What you’re calling conjecture is what the world of science calls expert analysis.
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Mac, even David Eby doesn’t agree with you. Even the biggest bleeding heart progressive comes face to face with reality at some point.
Today, April 26, 2024, people with common sense celebrate a historic event.
Here lies what remains of the withered and battered soul of decriminalization. The drug addicts had a party like never before, but the BS is over. RIP BC Decriminalization. 2023 – 2024.
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