Image Credit: Mel Rothenburger

By Mel Rothenburger

Armchair Mayor

ROTHENBURGER: Banning drug use in parks is a great idea, but it will probably fail

Apr 1, 2023 | 6:42 AM

— WOULDN’T IT BE NICE if we could go for a walk in Riverside Park, or relax in Pioneer Park, without having to put up with people doing drugs?

Under the new decriminalization law adopted by the provincial government, small amounts of addictive illicit drugs can now legally be possessed and used, even in most public places. That, apparently, includes parks.

So, a drug user could sit on a bench or under a tree in the park and consume illicit substances including heroine, fentanyl, crack and powder cocaine, ecstasy or meth and not get busted as long as they have 2.5 grams or less in their possession.

Some communities are trying to do something about that. The District of Sicamous was the first, and is quickly being followed by others, possibly including Kamloops. Last week, Sicamous unanimously approved bylaw changes that ban the use of illicit drugs in its parks.

The bylaw is based on the logic that since decriminalization doesn’t extend to possession while on school property or in daycare facilities, kids should also be protected in public parks.

Sound Off

SOUND OFF: How to reduce food waste in Kamloops during the festive season

2h ago

Looped In

LOOPED IN WITH NIKKI OMEN: December 12, 2024

20h ago

One Man's Opinion

COLLINS: North Shore BIA working hard to develop a 'happening place'

Dec 12, 2024

Therefore, the new bylaw names several parks and “all designated children’s play areas” where the smoking or injection of illicit drugs is now prohibited.

Noting that alcohol, tobacco and cannabis are already banned from some public parks to reduce litter and nuisance and the negative impact on public safety and enjoyment, the district says it’s logical to treat illicit drugs in the same way.

Penticton is looking at a similar bylaw, which has been given first reading. It would ban the “display or use” of controlled substances and drug paraphernalia except in designated areas.

Specifically, it says people can’t “display or use drug paraphernalia, except in areas designated” or “display or use a controlled substance, except in areas designated.”

I wrote about that bylaw only last week; more on that in a minute.

Kelowna, too, wants to make sure its parks and playgrounds, and all others in the province, are drug-free but it’s taking a different approach. Mayor Tom Dyas is hoping the NDP government will make such a ban provincewide by adding parks and playgrounds to the list of places the new drug law excludes as permissible venues.

At the same time, he wants beaches to be OK for alcohol consumption. That’s not a contradiction. Enjoying a beer on the beach isn’t a mental health issue, and doesn’t result in dangerous drug paraphernalia being left around as litter (cans and bottles aren’t hazardous in the way needles are).

Kamloops may soon get on the bandwagon. A notice of motion from Coun. Katie Neustaeter will come up for discussion shortly for an amendment to the parks bylaw to add drug consumption to prohibited behaviour, which currently includes drinking alcohol without a licence, and smoking.

The road to all these initiatives is paved with good intentions. In Kamloops, it’s not only the big parks that have been plagued with drug use long before decriminalization. The little park in Westmount, for example, is only a short walk from the Moira House shelter; the City obviously saw problems coming because it installed a sharps disposal container on the Rivers Trail beside the park.

Sadly, there are a couple of major barriers to these bylaws. One is that controlling behaviour in public places is challenging to say the least. The Penticton bylaw is wide-ranging (covering not just parks), aiming at stopping everything from public nudity to spitting in public to masturbation and urination.

The kinds of people who engage in such behaviour aren’t likely to be deterred by fines of one or two hundred dollars, and likely don’t have the means to pay it anyway.

The Sicamous bylaw doesn’t even include a fine — the punishment for consuming illicit drugs in parks is to be told to stop doing it.

The second problem with the new drugs-in-parks movement is the prospect of legal action. A Vancouver group called Pivot Legal Society brags on its website about forcing Campbell River to scrap plans for a bylaw by threatening to sue the municipality.

Pivot filed a petition against the City of Campbell River in February, after which the City quietly dropped adoption of the bylaw.

“This means that people in Campbell River no longer face a $200 fine for public drug consumption,” Pivot stated. “More importantly, it means that people who use drugs can actually experience the benefits of B.C.’s decriminalization policy, which was severely undermined by the bylaws.”

It hinted it might take action against other communities that try to adopt such bylaws as well: “We are continuing to monitor the situation in Campbell River and in cities across B.C. who may contemplate similar bylaws. We are also pushing the Province to take a more proactive and systemic approach to preventing anti-drug user bylaws in the first place.”

So, while the Kelowna mayor’s approach is probably the best, there’s no guarantee the Province will agree, and it might even go in the opposite direction if it listens to Pivot.

Even health authorities aren’t supporting the bylaws. In Campbell River, the medical health officer claimed prohibiting drugs in parks would have “direct and deleterious public health impacts.”

Interior Health has expressed similar reservations. Medical health officer Dr. Jonathon Malo has written to Sicamous saying its bylaw “reinforces stigma.”

So when it comes in front of Kamloops City council, the council will have to decide if it’s worth it to go against health authorities and possibly face a big legal bill as well.

How are communities supposed to get anywhere on the safety issue when they face legal action and can’t even get support from public health officials? I guess it’s not OK to tell people to go do their drugs somewhere that families aren’t trying to enjoy.

The choice is between those creating the problem, or the public that suffers from it. Clearly, the problem-makers, as always, have the upper hand.

Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired newspaper editor. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.