We had the B.C. police chiefs here, we had the deputy RCMP commissioner here. They were very clear in terms of the decriminalization model in British Columbia, which has been going for only 18 months, that they wanted tools to move people along.
They were also very clear, and Ms. Wilson said:
...we all agree that we do not want to criminalize people by virtue of their personal drug use. Those days are gone. We want to support a health-led approach.
They're very clear that they don't want to go back to criminalizing people.
They also cited:
They're not dying from diverted safe supply and they're not actually dying from diverted prescription medication; they're dying from fentanyl, coke and meth, and that's where we really focus our enforcement efforts.
They also called for more safe consumption sites and expanding them to include inhalation, and they also made it clear that:
...this is not just a law enforcement issue: It's a public health crisis that demands a compassionate and comprehensive response.
Lastly:
The RCMP continues to support all efforts to ensure that an overdose emergency is dealt with as a health and medical emergency.
When you hear that and you see it in testimony, and politicians come out of a hearing like that and they want to attack decriminalization and call it or safe supply as the root cause for this toxic drug crisis, how does that make you feel, as a mother of a lost loved one?