I would like to thank our mayor and council for initiating the bylaw to prohibit the use of hard drugs in public spaces.
With the provincial move to de-criminalize these drugs and not have a plan in place to prevent use of these drugs in public spaces, council had no choice.
Just as there are bylaws for alcohol consumption, smoking or marijuana use in public buildings and spaces so to should there be laws for hard drugs. This law gives authorities a tool to ask people to cease or move along so that parents, seniors and children can enjoy these spaces.
All the places that existed before Feb. 1 for drug users to access are still there. We don’t need our public spaces as injection sites. How do you stop it without a bylaw?
Before people blame council for standing up and protecting everyone’s right to enjoy these spaces, they need to ask what the province is doing to prevent open hard drug use in public spaces. The fact is MLAs initiated this policy with no plan in place. Even the letter from the public health official offered no solution.
Our council is acting responsibly on this situation and once the province and their public health authorities come up with a plan to limit or ban hard drug use in our parks and facilities the bylaw may be rescinded. It’s unfortunate that the plan wasn’t in place before de-criminalization.
Michael Murphy
Campbell River