New Westminster city council won’t ask the provincial government to terminate “the failed decriminalization experiment” that two councillors say had led to an “any drug, anywhere, anytime” mentality.
At its May 27 meeting, council voted 4-2 against Coun. Daniel Fontaine’s motion to have the mayor write a letter to the premier and the minister of mental health and addictions requesting they immediately halt the “failed decriminalization experiment” pilot project in B.C. Part of the motion’s preamble stated that Oregon had attempted a similar experiment and recently reversed course to reduce the impacts of a growing level of street disorder and illicit drug consumption in public spaces.
“The messaging has been all wrong,” Fontaine said. “There is no way that we should be messaging that any drug, anytime, anywhere is acceptable. We should not be messaging that safe supply or safe injection is safe at all, because we know the harm that can result if someone consumes a drug that they don't know where it's come from or if it's laced with something like fentanyl.”
In response to concerns about drug use in public places, the province announced it would be introducing changes to its drug decriminalization pilot project. The changes would provide police with more tools to address public safety.
“This motion tonight is to encourage the province to abandon this failed experiment altogether,” Fontaine said. “They have partially withdrawn, but it is still on the books that B.C. is undertaking this decriminalization experiment. My view is we should redouble our efforts at all four pillars.”
Fontaine said B.C. has been focusing on one pillar, harm reduction, but the four-pillar approach (treatment, prevention, harm reduction and enforcement) is required to address the crisis.
Coun. Paul Minhas, the only council member to support Fontaine’s motion, said the “word stigma has now been stigmatized” and it’s no longer “in fashion” to use stigma as a way of changing social behaviors. He believes stigma was used to achieve positive outcomes in the past on issues such as impaired driving, drinking alcohol during while pregnant, and smoking.
“You can't smoke in this chamber and other public places any longer. Why? Because of stigmatization,” he said. “We know it had positive results.”
Like Fontaine, Minhas said the decriminalization pilot project sent out a message that people could consume any drugs, anywhere, anytime.
“Far from using stigmatization for positive good, we went the other way,” he said. “We effectively told people it was OK to consume illicit drugs anywhere.”
Coun. Nadine Nakagawa disagreed.
“Actually no: stigma kills people,” she said. “And there is plenty of evidence that proves that.”
Nakagawa, who told council she had worked at the first supervised consumption site in North America, said she believes some of the clauses in the motion are misleading or inaccurate, and are not based in facts or compassion.
“There is actual evidence on this,” she said. “One important point to note is that according to the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, enforcement actually comprises 58 per cent of the budget spent on this issue. Harm-reduction services are eight per cent.”
Nakagawa said she’d prefer that council focus on solutions, rather than “fear mongering and misleading to make political points.”
“I hope that we as a council can actually focus on solutions rather than punching down, fear mongering and misleading to make political points," she said.
Along with Nakagawa, Mayor Patrick Johnstone and councillors Ruby Campbell and Tasha Henderson voted against Fontaine’s motion.
Nurses input
Earlier in the meeting, Corey Ranger, a registered nurse and president of the Harm Reduction Nurses Association, said the city should be demanding evidence-based solutions like “safer-use spaces” if it does not want to see public drug use.
“We know firsthand the harms of criminalization. It promotes covert and isolated use,” he told council during delegation period. “Within the context of an unregulated drug-poisoning emergency that is contaminated with high concentrations of fentanyl, benzodiazepines and animal tranquilizers, that covert use is a recipe for death.”
Ranger read a letter from New West resident Michelle Danda, a mom of four kids aged eight to 13, and a registered nurse specializing in mental health and substance use.
In her letter, Danda said she hasn’t noticed a significant increase in public drug use in the city since the province passed decriminalization legislation in 2023, but she has seen an increase in accessibility to Narcan kits, education about harm reduction, and drug checking and mobile services for people who use drugs, which has contributed to a continued sense of safety for her and her children as they navigate their daily lives.
“However, I do want to draw your attention to a concerning trend that has become more apparent in recent months: the increase in poverty and homelessness, particularly the visible homelessness in the downtown area of New Westminster,” she wrote. “Their presence and their struggles are a social justice issue that the City of New Westminster has a responsibility to collaboratively address. This means taking a human-centred approach, not demonizing people who use drugs.”
Danda said that what some politicians have chosen to attribute to drug decriminalization detracts from the real issues – supporting health and social services to adequately address the drug-poisoning crisis.
“Drug decriminalization offers a compassionate and pragmatic approach to addressing drug use within our society. Rather than punishing individuals using drugs, decriminalization recognizes drug use as a public health issue, rather than a criminal justice one.
Danda, a representative of the Harm Reduction Nurses Association, urged the city to avoid “demonizing people who use drugs” and to continue prioritizing initiatives that address the root causes of homelessness and substance use, while also providing support and resources to those who are most vulnerable in our community.
