(Image Credit: CFJC News)

By Sydney Chisholm

Decriminalization

Decriminalization a step in the right direction: Kamloops Day One Society

Jan 30, 2023 | 5:04 PM

KAMLOOPS– The provincial government’s three-year drug decriminalization pilot program begins tomorrow (Jan 31) and the executive director of Day One Society – formerly known as the Kamloops Society for Drug and Alcohol Services – says it’s a step in the right direction.

“If somebody can be supported when they are struggling with their substance use, that is a big enough challenge on its own, to then put a label on it that they are now criminalized, puts a barrier up that just is not necessary,” Sian Lewis, executive director of Day One Society told CFJC News.

She says levelling criminal charges against addicts only deters them from pursuing recovery – while adding more names to a long list of those waiting to process.

“We need to work with them and focus on the health that they are choosing for themselves,” Lewis said.

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“Criminalizing that person is not going to help anybody, it’s certainly not going to help the individual and it’s going to be a weight on the system as well, so decriminalizing is really an essential thing that going to help the people who are struggling with addictions.”