Police chiefs tell MPs public drug use is out of control after small amounts were decriminalized
Sometimes you need a little bit of distance from a problem to see the situation clearly. Which is why the testimony of B.C.’s top police chiefs to a federal committee of MPs in Ottawa this week brought into sharp focus the issue of decriminalization — specifically, it’s many, troubling, ongoing, unintended consequences.
“Prior to decriminalization, if someone was using drugs in a problematic circumstance, for example at a playground, or a bus shelter or a beach, community members were able to call 911, police were able to attend and address that circumstance,” she said. “The reality is there are still a number of other circumstances where the public have significant concerns about public drug use, and when that happens, if it’s not in a place that’s an exception to the exemption, there’s nothing police can do,” she said.To sharpen the point, Wilson gave an example to MPs on the all-party committee.
Clearly, the NDP was spectacularly, wildly, wrong on that point. And even worse, police leaders explained the government failed to listen to their warnings. Police also offered little hope of help arriving in B.C.’s beleaguered hospitals, where nurses are complaining about open drug dealing and rampant drug use that has left them sick from toxic plumes of fentanyl smoke.
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