Vancouver councillor wants to push B.C. Gov’t do to more on toxic drug crisis

A city councillor in Vancouver is looking to push the B.C. government to do more to address the deadly toxic drug crisis.

Coun. Adriane Carr has put forward a motion at Wednesday’s standing committee meeting that would see the Union of BC Municipalities formally urge the provincial government to make some tweaks to its current strategy.

This includes amending the Tobacco and Vapour Products Control Act to allow for “inhalation or smoking of drugs” at safe consumption facilities, noting many users are choosing to consume drugs that way instead of intravenously.

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The motion also calls for more overdose prevention sites and resources, and an early review of B.C.’s program that decriminalized the possession of small amounts of illicit drugs.

“My concern is, we declared an emergency in 2016 in this province. There have been over 12,000 drug overdose deaths since then. So obviously, whatever we’ve been doing since then has not been a solution to the crisis,” she told CityNews ahead of Wednesday’s council meeting.

The Green Party councillor says the province also needs to do more to prevent people from becoming addicted to drugs in the first place.

“Especially amongst youth, who may face really difficult times in their life and turn to drugs as a last resort but they could have been in other kinds of treatment and seen other kind of help,” she explained.

Carr says she would also like to see more resources that can be made available at a moment’s notice.

“It’s important that when people are ready to tackle the situation that they are in and want to seek help that there is help on demand, and that is not the case now. I’ve heard too many stories about people who end up with one of their loved ones on a waitlist and they’re months down the road before they can get in and by then, it’s too late,” she said.

When it comes to the province’s decriminalization program, Carr says she would like to see improvements made to it, including more safe supply of illicit drugs.

“It’s something that the province has embarked on and it’s a trial program right now. I hope they evaluate it to see if they’re the right drugs that people are getting access to,” she said.

The city is currently facing a lawsuit over a safe consumption site in Vancouver’s Yaletown neighbourhood, with a petition claiming the facility negatively affects residents.

Since the toxic drug crisis was declared a public health emergency in 2016, over 11,000 people have died, including over 1,000 in 2023 so far.

Council will debate Carr’s motion on Wednesday, with a meeting beginning at 9:30 a.m.

-With files from Raynaldo Suarez