Thank you.
Good afternoon, everyone. I am Fiona Wilson. I am President, British Columbia Association of Chiefs of Police, and Deputy Chief, Vancouver Police Department
In my role as president of the British Columbia Association of Chiefs of Police, I'm honoured to share with the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health our experience as police leaders with decriminalization in British Columbia.
The decriminalization exemption was issued under section 56(1) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act by Health Canada. It took effect over a year ago, on January 31, 2023. The exemption is part of a three-year pilot project that aims to take a health-led approach to substance use, as opposed to one led by the criminal justice system.
In British Columbia, we know all too well the severity of the toxic drug death crisis. Yesterday marked eight years since a public health emergency was declared in British Columbia on April 14, 2016. Since that time, tragically, more than 14,000 British Columbians have died from accidental overdose.
We've seen the crisis have the greatest per capita impact on rural communities, including those in northern British Columbia, on Vancouver Island and in the Cariboo. In many of these rural communities, the crisis can be double or triple the provincial average. Sadly, the highest per capita impact has been in Vancouver-Centre North, which includes Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Here, the stark reality is that the overdose crisis is more than 12 times the provincial average.
We recognize that the crisis has had an especially devastating impact on indigenous people in British Columbia. Alarmingly, indigenous people are six times more likely to be impacted by the crisis than non-indigenous British Columbians.
In recognition of the magnitude of this crisis, police leaders in B.C. supported decriminalization and taking a medically led approach to substance use. At the heart of it, police agree that people should not be criminalized as a result of their personal drug use.
In terms of police data, across British Columbia there has been a more than 90% reduction in drug seizures at or below the 2.5-gram threshold. Based on these results, I'm confident that frontline police officers are doing their part to implement the decriminalization exemption and to support a health-led approach to substance use.
However, the implementation of decriminalization has not occurred without criticism or concerns.
As police leaders, we were unequivocal about the need to prevent unintended impacts on community safety and well-being, especially for youth. The British Columbia Association of Chiefs of Police clearly identified some of those potential consequences prior to the submission of the exemption request, both orally and in writing. These serious concerns included but were not limited to the matters of public consumption, consumption in licensed establishments and other places such as cafés and restaurants, and impaired driving.
However, the implementation of decriminalization occurred before more extensive restrictions on public consumption and problematic substance use could be adopted. While the vast majority of people who use drugs do not want to do so in a manner that negatively impacts others, there have been several high-profile instances of problematic drug use at public locations, including parks, beaches and around public transit. In addition, there have been concerns from small businesses about problematic drug use that prevents access by customers or negatively affects operations.
To address some of these concerns, after significant advocacy on the part of police in B.C., three additional exceptions were added to the exemption on September 18, 2023. In addition, the Province of British Columbia has taken significant steps to enact legislation that would prevent problematic substance use that negatively impacts community members, especially youth. However, before this legislation came into effect, a B.C. Supreme Court injunction was granted based, in part, on the section 7 charter rights of people who use drugs.
Given the scope of the crisis, it is apparent that decriminalization is only one strategy and that it must be part of a broader, multi-faceted response. Additional strategies include increased efforts in the areas of education, prevention and treatment and in the provision of enhanced health services to communities across B.C. While much work is occurring in these areas and significant investments of public resources have been made, it's clear that while decriminalization was able to come into effect in a relatively short time frame, these other strategies will take significantly longer to achieve and implement.
While working toward better health outcomes for people who use drugs, there must also be consideration of the needs and well-being of the broader public. I believe that other jurisdictions that have implemented or considered decriminalization, only to later abandon it, have done so because of unaddressed and unintended impacts on community safety and well-being.
Thank you.