Front Burner - Backlash and walk backs: BC reverses drug policy

Episode Date: May 2, 2024

In April, a hospital memo was released by the British Columbia’s official opposition party. It was from July 2023, a few months after the possession of small amounts of certain hard drugs were decriminalized in the province under a three-year pilot project.And it advised nurses to not impede patients using illicit drugs within the hospital.The province said the advice in the memo had been walked back. But it became another example used by the plan’s critics for why progressive drug policies were failing.Then, last week, B.C. Premier David Eby asked Health Canada to recriminalize the use of hard drugs in public spaces, such as hospitals and restaurants.So how did growing backlash from residents, health-care workers, police and conservative politicians end a key component of decriminalization?Today, we unpack those questions with CBC British Columbia reporter Moira Wyton.

In the Dragon's Den, a simple pitch can lead to a life-changing connection. Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. This is a CBC Podcast. Hi, I'm Elaine Chao, in for Jamie Poisson. About a month ago, a leaked hospital memo found its way to the B.C. legislature. It was from last summer, and it asked nurses not to prevent patients from using illicit drugs in the hospital.

It didn't take long for the hospital and province to walk that back. But the firestorm had already started. It was just one more example that was seized by people like the Provincial Opposition Party, who are critical of the province's three-year drug decriminalization pilot project. And things got heated in the legislature. Maybe we should allow crystal meth smoking in the minister's office. And then she could experience what health care workers are facing in their workplace every single day. Late last week, in a pretty surprising reversal, an NDP premier, David Eby, asked the federal liberal government to stop allowing public drug use in BC.

And the Premier found an unlikely ally, Pierre Pauliev, who was kicked out of the House of Commons this week. When will we put an end to this wacko policy by this wacko prime minister? I'm going to ask the Honourable Leader of the Opposition to withdraw that term, which is not considered parliamentary. So today, how has decriminalization worked in B.C.? And what's behind the growing backlash? Moira Whiten is with me. She's a reporter with CBC British Columbia.

And before that, she was a health reporter for the Thai. Hi, Moira. Hi, Elaine. I was mentioning the leaked memo earlier in the back and forth about drug use in the hospital. And just so we're clear, as of today, could someone smoke drugs in a hospital waiting room? No. someone smoked drugs in a hospital waiting room. No.

However, police also wouldn't have the right to arrest you or to take your drugs if it was under the decriminalization threshold. Gotcha. And, you know, even though this couldn't happen in hospitals, the nurses union did say that nurses were feeling unsafe. And why is that? Like, what was happening in hospitals that led to the union saying that nurses felt unsafe within the decriminalization pilot project? You know, substance use in healthcare facilities that aren't designated and, you know, violence against healthcare workers, like, these have been large issues in BC for a long time

that the nurses' union has been outspoken about. And so when we're hearing from the nurses' union after these drug use memos, I think what we're hearing is that nurses are concerned that they don't have the same tools to respond to it the way that they might have in the past. And that they're concerned about their workplace safety, not just for other patients, but for health workers themselves. And the BC Nurses Union is

saying that harm reduction and decriminalization as part of that shouldn't come at the cost of staff or patient safety in healthcare. Right. And I should point out that the BC Nurses Union did say that they were concerned, but that they also were worried that the issue was being politicized. It's a conversation that's long overdue. But do I feel personally that this is being politicized? Absolutely. And my concern is that this marginalized population will be further stigmatized. And that would kind of further stigmatize marginalized communities, right? Exactly. And we also don't know how much this is happening in hospitals. We don't have numbers of incidents reported. It's one memo from last July, as well as these recent concerns raised by the official opposition, the BC United here. So there really

isn't a good sense of how large of a problem this is. Of course, it's significant if anyone is raising these concerns. The Nurses' Union right now is concerned that if people can't use their drugs or are worried about being arrested or having them taken away if they're seeking hospital care, that they just won't seek that care at all. And that's going to impact people who have the least resources, Indigenous patients, Indigenous drug users the most. So this hospital leaked memo got a lot, a lot of attention in legislature.

Things got really feisty, the debate over this. Nurses are so exposed to drug smoke that they have to visit the emergency room. And many fear for their safety because of the weapons that are now permitted. This is confirmed in the leaked memo. Confirmed in the leaked memo. I remember, like, at one point, the speaker actually had to call for decorum. Members.

Members will come to order now, please. Minister hasn't even started yet. But decriminalization isn't just about hospitals. Obviously, this is, we mentioned, like part of a three-year pilot project that we're 15 months into. So talk to me a little bit about kind of what do these exceptions allow for when it comes to like public drug use and possession? So BC's decriminalization pilot is possible through an exemption that Health Canada granted from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. And essentially it allows adults, so anyone over 18 and over in the province to carry up to 2.5 grams of a few types of drugs, MDMA

or molly, methamphetamine, cocaine, and opioids, including fentanyl, heroin, and the like. With this pilot, it doesn't make using it legal in a public place, but it removes police's ability to arrest or to seize those drugs for someone who is simply possessing that amount, not for distribution. And so the idea was to reduce the stigma around drug use and to hopefully remove barriers that keep people from the services and supports that are available by, you know, treating this, as the Premier said. There is no question in my mind, having worked with many people struggling with addiction, that addiction is a health issue, it is not a criminal law issue. And that principle is what the entire decriminalization project was about. Hopefully people would seek more care without the threat of arrest and seizure.

Okay, so then last week, BCNDP Premier David Eby decided this wasn't working and asked Ottawa for a reversal. I have talked to the prime minister about this. He assures me that the federal government will provide full support to ensure the police have the tools that they need. So that would basically mean that public drug use would no longer be allowed, but it would still be allowed in private. You know, so what is the public sentiment that led him to that conclusion? There's been mounting public pressure around decriminalization for months. And so this isn't even the province's first attempt to roll back some of those provisions. In the fall, the NDP government passed legislation to ban public drug use in public places like parks, beaches, on transit, that sort of thing. But that was challenged in

court and a judge ruled that if that, a BC Supreme Court judge ruled that if it came into effect, you know, it would have irreparable harm. So now I think, you know, we've heard from many mayors, we've heard from people who even like support treating addiction and substance use as a health issue rather than a criminal one, that they're concerned it's just not working. And they're seeing, you know, increased public disorder reports are coming in. You know, they're maybe concerned about drug use that they're seeing. And what specifically is it that people are seeing and experiencing, like people who aren't drug users, that lead them to feel like this isn't the right path? British Columbia is seeing a lot more visible homelessness in almost every community and in every part of Vancouver, even my neighborhood here. You know, I see it every day

that it's changed in the last few years. And I think there's concerns that, you know, people aren't getting the supports they need, that decriminalization is the only thing being done and that B.C. isn't trying to build housing or, you know, provide the support that people need. And I think they're also seeing like there's been reports of people seeing, you know, public drug use in parks or in alleyways or. Needles at playgrounds. Exactly. And I think, you know, those concerns are valid. Everyone deserves to feel safe in their communities. And what we've really heard from, you know, while the majority of mayors in BC still support decriminalization, we've heard from a lot of outspoken ones that this is concerning for them and from, you know, a number of citizen groups as well. And it's not just people who, you know, were against decriminalization from the start. Right. Like in many ways, it's not like surprising that the federal conservatives and the provincial opposition, like the BC United Party, which I should say for our national

audience is, you know, right of center of the political spectrum here in BC. You know, it's not a surprise that groups like that have been critical of this, but we're seeing people who, like people outside of conservative groups that are upset by what they're seeing. And, you know, we know that a majority of people still do support treating addiction and substance use as a health issue rather than a criminal one. But we've all, I've also heard from researchers and from drug user advocates and people who use drugs themselves that they feel like decriminalization is being scapegoated for a number of other issues, like a housing and homelessness crisis, you know, unaffordability, the cost of living in Vancouver

and British Columbia is really driving, you know, a huge increase in homelessness. And they're saying that, you know, it's not increasing the amount of drug use necessarily. It's actually just increasing how visible that is. And that in a way, you know, public use or people using not in back alleys, but where someone can call for help that if they need it could be a benefit of decriminalization rather than a sign it's not working. But, you know, I think people are concerned, non-drug users, community members as well are concerned about what they're seeing and want to see action on, you know, hopefully decreasing public disorder concerns and also, you know, increasing safety for everyone. And it's been such an emotional issue, right?

Like I think about a few months ago what had happened at Richmond City Hall. So like a suburb of Vancouver here, full disclosure, it's also the city where I live. And hundreds of protesters who were there. No more silence! No more silence! A rallying cry. We're dead! Our children! Hundreds galvanized this family day after Richmond Council's recent decision to pass a motion looking into the merits of opening a supervised consumption site at the city's hospital.

To bring something so... And like people who, you know, I would not have necessarily, you know, people who looked frankly like my own parents out there and having, you know, grown up in Richmond, I've never really quite seen civic engagement of that level. And they were there to protest a proposed supervised injection site. And that never came to be. The local health authority ended up walking back on that. But it just really struck me of how emotional that became, that this is really something that has struck a real chord. And I wonder what you think when you see something like that.

What does that tell you about how people are feeling about this issue? I think people in BC are feeling really scared and concerned about their community. They're seeing their communities change. They're seeing more community members suffering and living without, you know, what they need to live in dignity. And I think it's very, some of the, you know, the political opposition to decriminalization and harm reduction that, you know, overdose and supervised consumption sites, like they have been proven to have prevented thousands of deaths by BC's CDC in the last several years. But there's this pushback to some of these more evidence-based

concerns because people, I think, are wondering, you know, if this is happening and we're seeing all this change now, like maybe we have to change course and do something different. change now, maybe we have to change course and do something different. And I think there's a lot of misinformation and political actors also capitalizing on those concerns when maybe in reality a lot of the challenges from what we've heard from experts run a lot deeper and are a lot more complex to solve. In the Dragon's Den, a simple pitch can lead to a life-changing connection.

Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. Hi, it's Ramit Sethi here. You may have seen my money show on Netflix. I've been talking about money for 20 years. I've talked to millions of people and I have some startling numbers to share with you.

Did you know that of the people I speak to, 50% of them do not know their own household income? That's not a typo, 50%. That's because money is confusing. In my new book and podcast, Money for Couples, I help you and your partner create a financial vision together. To listen to this podcast, partner, create a financial vision together. To listen to this podcast, just search for Money for Cups. So there's been all of this backlash from a lot of different people. And so, you know, what does this point to? You know, is this a case of a policy not being able to do what it was supposed to do? In my view, I think the expectations around decriminalization were not made clear. And people wanted to do different things than it was intended to do. When it was announced, it was meant to be one tool to reduce harms and to hopefully save lives in BC's toxic drug crisis.

But it was never set up and it was never meant to fix people who are homeless or to create housing at were around arrests, seizures, you know, people accessing treatment, people not being, you know, stuck in this cycle of criminality and criminalization and substance use. And we haven't gotten the data on that from Health Canada. So we actually don't know yet, like what theviewed scientific analysis of this policy is. But we do see, I think a lot of people's declaring it a failure because of the lack of, I guess, political will just to see it through as it began. Right. And this was meant to be a three-year pilot project. It's about a third. meant to be a three-year pilot project. It's about a third. And it's not over, I should say. It's not over. These are major changes, but it doesn't affect decriminalization in private residences. It doesn't affect overdose prevention sites. It's not completely getting rid of the pilot, but I think the public aspect, there weren't a lot of charges being laid for simple possession in someone's home before this. And so I think a lot of these changes are significant. And while David Eby, the premier, has said this isn't a failure, other jurisdictions can learn

from our experience and the challenges that we've had in British Columbia. But yeah, I think this is a very significant step back for really like a hallmark policy for the NDP government as an election approaches. Moira, as we look to just wrap up this conversation, we're already seeing so much reaction to this reversal. So we've got Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who's come out and vowed to fight Toronto's application for decriminalization. I will fight this tooth and nail.

This is the wrong way to go. It's proven, even in the U.S., they're rolling it back. And he said this after talking to B.C. Premier David Eby. We've got Saskatchewan's justice minister calling this a disaster.

And federal conservative leader Pierre Pauliev saying that he'd pull out from harm reduction strategies if his party was voted in. So is this policy doomed? I think it depends who you ask. Cynically, people would tell you, yes, drug users, a number of advocates I've spoken to would tell you that British Columbia wanted to do this, blame other problems, scapegoat, you know, other problems onto it and then say okay we tried moving

on to something else but what i think and what i hear from from the opposition to decriminalization is that there's a record a shared recognition across the spectrum that that what is happening and what we're doing to stop you know the thousands of deaths a year is not working and that we need to try something else. And so I don't think it's necessarily was set up to fail. But I think other jurisdictions like Saskatchewan, like I was reporting with my colleague Dane Patterson and like in Toronto, other jurisdictions are seeing that there are huge political costs and or can be huge political costs to these kinds of groundbreaking policy. And I think, you know, people who support decriminalization are saying it should have been done differently and there should have been more, you know, other supports in place to really do the decriminalization right. Moria, thank you for coming on the show today. Thanks so much for having me.

That's all for today. I'm Elaine Chao. Thanks for listening to FrontBurner.