Vancouver's mayor applauds BC banning drug possession on playgrounds

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An amendment to BC’s decriminalization policy has been approved, and starting Monday, it will mean possession of illicit drugs in more spaces will be banned.

The province said the new exclusion zones prevent drug users from being within 15 metres of a play structure in a playground, a spray or wading pool, or a skate park, if they are in possession of any amount of illegal drugs.

K-12 schools and licensed childcare facilities were already exclusionary zones when decriminalization was brought into BC at the end of January.

Exemptions that were in place in January included spaces where children were present, but the exclusionary zones will be expanded starting Monday to include more spaces.

The changes expand the exclusionary zones already in place.

“With this amendment, police officers may enforce the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act when individuals are found to be in possession of illegal drugs in these child-focused spaces,” the province said Thursday.

Outside of these areas, Health Canada approved that possessions of small amounts of cocaine, heroin, meth, fentanyl, and other substances would not be penalized by the justice system, a first in Canada.

Public intoxication remains illegal and under the Criminal Code.

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim and Victoria Mayor Marianne Alto are among those commending the move.

“We are pleased to see Health Canada is responding to the hard work done by the province in taking action by amending the BC personal drug possession exemption,” Sim said.

“We thank both the province and the BC Association of Chiefs of Police for joint advocacy with the City of Vancouver to address this important issue,” he added.

Children remain top of mind

In 2006, the Vancouver Police Department announced it would be adapting how officers enforce possession and instead put the focus on traffickers and circumstances when the user was harming others.

“A person‘s behaviour or the context of the psychoactive substance abuse, rather than the actual unlawful possession of the substance, should be the primary factor in determining whether to lay a charge,” the report reads in part.

However, the policy included a special sensitivity to areas where children were present.

Criminal lawyer Sarah Leamon is among those asking about how this will be enforced.

“That’s the big question here because, of course, the law really doesn’t mean anything unless there is some type of enforcement around that law,” Leamon said.

“The situation in Vancouver has long been standing that people who have just small amounts personal possession of narcotics on their person and are found by police were typically not charged. So the question is going to be here whether or not police are going to expand or expend the resources to acknowledge and implement and enforce this law to make it a meaningful one that will actually have an impact on our community.”

Leamon also asked whether this would apply to people who were walking by a school, for example, as we live in a densely populated urban area and navigating the 15-metre rule might become confusing to enforce.

“How are we now going to provide messaging to the community in order to ensure that they’re now aware of changes to it and be very significant alterations to it?” she said.

Back to the Province

The province says it is working to further regulate public drug use through provincial legislation this fall, adding that decriminalization is just one tool in the toolbox in the fight against the toxic drug crisis, which has claimed the lives of 12,000 British Columbians since 2016.

Men, and in particular those working in trades and the construction sector, continue to disproportionally make up the deaths in the province, and the majority of deaths happen inside private residences, according to the BC Coroners Service.

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