Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor,
Used needles, shattered crack pipes, vandalism, and homeless encampments are pervading our streets, businesses, and even schools and soccer fields.
Community groups like the Abbotsford Soccer Association have detailed the impacts and safety risks that increased substance abuse and decriminalization of hard drugs are having on our community. Sadly, this reflects our new reality since the federal government granted the Province an exemption to decriminalize 2.5 grams of illicit drugs for personal use.
As a Member of Parliament and father of young children, I am deeply troubled by the government’s decision to prioritize decriminalization of hard drugs over the safety of playgrounds and sport fields. Disturbingly, stories continue to be published of used needles being found in places where children play.
Under Prime Minister Trudeau’s leadership, overdoses in BC have increased by 351%, while the street cost of dangerous drugs has dropped 70-95%. In 2023, the Fraser Health Authority region had 537 deaths due to illicit drug overdose. Although British Columbia has seen a decrease in drug-related deaths since the height of the pandemic, drug toxicity remains the leading cause of death— higher than crime-related deaths, accidents and disease combined.
January 31, 2024, marks the one-year anniversary of the decriminalization of hard drugs. The impacts of decriminalization do not go unnoticed. We live it. Families and friends continue to lose loved ones due to overdoses every single day. Bottom line? Decriminalization does nothing to stop these preventable losses.
Despite this, the Liberal-NDP coalition continues to make this crisis worse. Just a few weeks ago, the BC NDP government, enabled by Justin Trudeau’s Liberals, contracted the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU) to have clinicians prescribe dangerous fentanyl to minors under the guise of so-called ‘safe supply’. Worse still, these vulnerable children can be given these dangerous drugs without their parents being informed. Meanwhile, there continues to be no credible evidence in support of this insistence on providing tax-funded hard drugs to Canadians suffering from addiction, especially children.
To be clear, decriminalization of hard drugs didn’t make them legal. Drugs such as cocaine and fentanyl are still illegal and dangerous. It’s just that now police won’t seize them. How does it make sense to direct police officers not to confiscate illegal and dangerous products?
Certainly, the current revolving door of our justice system underpins the need to shift the direction of law enforcement away from arresting every single individual for drug possession, processing paperwork and letting them back on the street hours later. Prime Minister Trudeau’s lacklustre catch and release policies are not the answer.
Since the Prime Minister took office, violent crime has increased by a staggering 39%. British Columbians are all aware of the link that exists between violent crime and substance abuse. Those who haven’t committed violent crimes but are caught in a cycle of substance abuse and deteriorating mental health don’t need police to look the other way. They need treatment. They need our help.
Despite one year of decriminalization, physicians continue to say drug recovery needs will not be met because B.C.’s treatment model has massive waitlists and programs that require users to detox prior to admission. If governments were serious about tackling this public health crisis, they would build and fund a model that actually facilitates timely treatment. Government funded, unsupervised programs in which illicit drugs are freely given out are only extending this vicious cycle of addiction and death.
A Common-sense Conservative government will reverse these policies and work to return order and security to our communities. Our loved ones deserve treatment, to come home drug free. Our children and families deserve safe places to live, work and play.
Sincerely,
Brad Vis, M.P.
Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon
