‘The bare minimum they could’; critics worry B.C. public drug use ban doesn’t go far enough

KAMLOOPS — Earlier this week, Kamloops city council approved the first three readings of a bylaw amendment to ban the use of illicit drugs in parks and other public spaces. In doing so, Kamloops became the next in an ever lengthening list of communities enacting their own restrictions.

The issue arose after the province decriminalized a small amount of illicit substances for personal use back in January. On Thursday (Sept. 14), after calls from municipalities and opposition, the government is planning to introduce province wide ban.

The B.C. government says possession of illicit drugs within 15 metres of playgrounds, skate parks, spray parks and wading pools will be prohibited as of Monday (Sept. 18). The move comes after Kamloops city council spent more than an hour debating a similar municipal bylaw on Tuesday.

“Very clearly this council, we talked about this for the better part of an hour and a half as to what we want to see for our city and that needs to align with potentially what the province will be putting forward,” said Councillor Mike O’Reilly after learning the news Thursday morning.

The move from the NDP comes after months of pressure from municipalities like Kamloops, along with a vocal official opposition party. Kamloops North Thompson MLA Peter Milobar questioned what took so long.

“It’s been over six months that we have been calling for this,” began Milobar. “And then to see today this announcement when all along they’ve said they need the legislature to be sitting to do something really does make one scratch their head. But also, it makes you wonder why is it okay for somebody to being doing their crack 16 metres from a playground instead of somewhere else and being removed from the park completely.”

With the ban stopping at 15 metres, and with Kamloops, for example, using 100 metres in their bylaw, Milobar expects a continued patchwork prohibition across B.C.

“It’s not going to really meet what most communities are asking for. It’s great to be protecting playground areas, absolutely, but there is the broader park area that seems to be lost in this. It’s almost like the government by their own actions is very hesitant to take any action whatsoever, and took the bare minimum they could,” said Milobar.

The province says it made a request to Health Canada for an amendment to its decriminalization policy to add the public spaces to existing prohibitions on possession.

O’Reilly noted city council will be interested in finding out about the nuts and bolts of the new prohibition.

“At the end of the day, what we laid out in council chambers is what we want to see for Kamloops. Whether that aligns with what the province is doing — what we want to see that is yet to be seen because there has been no specifics or details. But we will be diving into it very in-depth once it’s released,” added O’Reilly.

With the amendment, the province says police officers in B.C. may enforce the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act when individuals are found to be in possession of illegal drugs in these child-focused spaces.