Kamloops drafts bylaw amendment to ban drug use in public spaces amid decriminalization pilot

Kamloops has become the latest B.C. municipality to consider excluding public spaces from the province's drug decriminalization rules that took effect this year.

On Tuesday, council in the southern Interior municipality voted 5-2 in favour of directing city staff to draft a bylaw amendment that would prohibit the use of illicit drugs in public spaces, including city facilities, parks and highways.

Coun. Katie Neustaeter brought the motion forward in late March to amend Kamloops's parks and public lands bylaw, which outlaws alcohol consumption and smoking in public spaces. 

Neustaeter says the bylaw amendment is a "proactive measure" to address what she says is a lot of concern from local residents around open drug use in public spaces under the B.C. government's experiment with drug decriminalization.

The federally-approved three-year pilot program decriminalizes the personal possession of up to 2.5 grams of cocaine (crack and powder), methamphetamine, MDMA and opioids (including heroin, fentanyl and morphine).

"Specifically when we think about young populations, kids or our aging adults, seniors and the exposure to those things and the impacts that they have, this is about really aligning open drug use with our alcohol policies or our smoking policies in public spaces and setting an expectation … around where those substances will be consumed," she said on CBC's Daybreak Kamloops.

Other B.C. municipalities make similar attempts

Other B.C. municipalities have attempted to lobby the province or are considering passing similar bylaws.

Last month, Kelowna Mayor Tom Dyas said he had received a "positive reaction" from provincial officials to his request to ban illicit drug use in municipal parks, citing concerns that decriminalization may create an influx of drug users from other provinces to city parks during the summer.

In B.C.'s Shuswap, Sicamous is still considering whether to adopt a bylaw outlawing open drug use. According to a local news report, the Interior Health Authority has urged council to consult with it before adopting the bylaw.

In late February, council in Campbell River on Vancouver Island dropped its plan to pass such a bylaw.  A local news report says council voted to abandon the plan after receiving a letter of opposition from the Island Health Authority and a legal challenge from the Vancouver-based Pivot Legal Society.

Kamloops city staff say the drafted bylaw amendment will need council's approval and permission from B.C.'s Ministry of Health before it can take effect.

Neustaeter says she expects council may face legal challenges to the bylaw amendment but hopes her motion can set an example for other B.C. municipalities.

"We need to raise our voices loudly together and say although we are supportive of [provincial] measures that will address this [drug overdose] problem, it needs to be done responsibly and effectively.

"Being told, Let's take a look at it six months from now and see the impacts and try and rewind the clock' isn't the best approach. The best approach is to be proactive to make sure that we're creating prevention, enforcement and treatment when we also implement harm reduction."

Safe spaces for drug consumption

Dr. Carol Fenton, the medical health officer for Interior Health, says outlawing drug use in public spaces may negatively impact people who are living with addictions and homelessness.

"We need to first make sure that there are appropriate spaces — expanding overdose prevention sites' hours and locations is an easy start.

"How do we make sure public spaces are safe places to be for everyone? Well, rather than bylaw officers, we can employ peers and/or community workers to clean up garbage and encourage people to use overdose prevention sites," Fenton said on Twitter.

Neustaeter agrees people need to be guided to spaces where they can use drugs safely, and she maintains that the proposed bylaw amendment isn't meant to levy fines on a vulnerable population.

"This is not about marginalizing or creating stigma around those folks who use this. It's about creating safe spaces."