City of Vernon opposes province’s call for decriminalization

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“Those two things are real game changers. Once that’s in place, then this other idea of decriminalizing, I think much smaller amounts than what was presented, might be something we would find valuable. We are definitely not in favour of taking away the authority of police to deal with people who are using in public.”

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Cumming, acknowledging that the province has stated that possession for personal use should be considered a health issue and not a criminal one, went on to say the current model the local RCMP follow is to not press charges against users, though he did add with it being a criminal matter, it gives officers the right and opportunity to contact users and direct them to support and service programs.

Cumming also stated that the proposed amount for legal possession, 4.5 grams of an illicit substance, was seen by council as too high a threshold. While speaking with Vernon Matters, Cumming could not say exactly how much the province would allow, but did say it would be “many, many doses of certain illicit drugs, and that would give lots of loopholes for those who do trafficking, and we don’t want to be interested in there being those loopholes.”

Cumming added the letter to the province will also request that more support and resources be made available locally.

“We need more resources on the housing and the supportive housing and the treatment side, and we haven’t addressed directly this issue of a non-poisonous drug supply but councillors have talked about that regularly in the last three years of our current term.”

Councillor Kelly Fehr was the only vote opposed to writing the letter.

Speaking with Vernon Matters Fehr noted that police forces, Indigenous councils, municipal councils and health authorities across B.C. have been calling for decriminalization to deal with the problem from a health perspective rather than trying to arrest their way out of the problem.

He added that council recognizes that addiction and drug use is a health issue and should be treated that way with more supports and services available, pointing to overdose prevention sites and providing Naloxone to people to help offset the effects of a poisoned drug supply.

While he said those resources do need to be bolstered further, that doesn’t mean decriminalization should be put on hold.

“This [letter] is council stating that they think there must be other things that must be instituted along with, or prior to decriminalization,” said Fehr.

“I think my colleagues, I’m glad that they have an opinion on it, but my opinion just happens to be that it is time to move forward with this piece of the plan, though I think we all agree that there are lots of other pieces that need to continue to be expanded upon.”

He added that those pieces are impossible to do all at once, and should take the opportunity to follow through on any of them when they become available.

The declassifying of the Committee of the Whole’s discussion showed that public use was also a big concern raised, but Fehr noted that other substances, such as alcohol and cannabis, are being used daily in legal establishments.

“So it’s interesting with overdose prevention sites you are starting to see health establishments take that up, you haven’t seen that introduced into the private market yet like you do with bars or smoking establishments. I think it would be helpful if the federal government did lay out rules around public consumption just so that it’s standardized across the country or across the province.”

Fehr added that he believes it’s behaviours that are associated with drug use should be seen as the criminal matter that should be addressed, but the possession and consumption could be regulated as it is with current legal substances.

It’s not yet known how long it will take the province to get approval from Health Canada for an exemption to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, or if even if it will be successful in the first place. It will then have to go to the Legislature to be approved provincially.

Cumming said each of those steps would take a long time, adding that during those stages the city would be vocal and clear that they are opposed to the proposal until the other requirements are met.