Port Coquitlam City Council has approved bylaw amendments that improve the municipal government’s ability to prohibit open illicit hard drug use in public spaces.
On Tuesday, an existing Parks, Facilities and Public Spaces bylaw was updated to enable bylaw officers to address the use of drugs, but not the possession of drugs.
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This is in response to increasingly apparent public safety issues stemming from the provincial government’s enactment of new legislation in January 2023 that decriminalizes the possession of small amounts of certain drugs, such as cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, methamphetamine, and morphine.
In an interview with Daily Hive Urbanized, Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West said his City’s bylaw officers have reported a noticeable increase in drug use in parks and playgrounds since the provincial government’s decriminalization occurred.
“The current bylaw prohibits the use and display of drugs in parks, facilities and all public spaces including sidewalks and is broader in scope than other municipalities’ bylaws ensuring that residents feel safe in all public spaces,” reads a City staff report ahead of the decision.
“The decriminalization of the exempt drugs poses a potential challenge to the enforcement of drug use in the City. Areas that were subject to regulation under the previous bylaw and criminal law are no longer subject to the same regulations.”
Bylaw officers have addressed the issue by asking individuals to not use or display drugs, and by banning individuals violating the bylaw from areas for up to 30 days.
As this is an update of an existing amendment, it does not require the approval of Fraser Health Authority, which was notified of the proposed amendment.
“Since the decriminalization of certain drugs some municipalities are amending or creating bylaws to restrict drug use to increase public safety,” continues the City staff report.
This past spring, the City of Kamloops similarly approved bylaw amendments banning open drug use on any public sidewalk and within 100 metres of any public park or playground.
During the interview, West suggested municipal governments across BC are now being forced to take matters into their own hands as the provincial government has been sluggish with coming up with its own policies to address the arising issues of their three-year-long provincial pilot project to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of illicit drugs.
“We’ve been keeping a keen eye on that and hoping that the province would step in and address the gap because of the changes they’ve made, but at the end of the day we’re not willing to wait any longer. Summer is here, all the kids that are supposed to be out of school, and our parks and playgrounds are about to get very busy. We need to take action now, and that’s what we did,” said the Mayor.
He says if his municipal government did not update its bylaws, there would be no policy in place to restrict such behaviour in public spaces, which is currently the case in other BC municipalities where prohibitive bylaws do not exist.
“I like to deal in the real world, and in the real world someone has to deal with that situation. We need to give bylaw officers and police something to go on. If we didn’t step in and provide that bylaw change, there is nothing that prohibits that activity following what the province has done,” he continued.
He points to a recent incident when an individual using drugs in close proximity to a children’s birthday party at a public park became highly hostile, after they were asked by a family member to engage in their activities somewhere else.
“In situations like that, what does the parent do when someone using fentanyl, meth, or heroin is at a playground?” said West.
“As a father of a six year old and two year old, the last thing I want parents to have to be worried about when they get their kids out to a park or playground is the potential contact with fentanyl.”
West says the provincial government’s legislation prohibits open drug use in schools and childcare facilities, but curiously it does not ban such activities in areas where children also frequent, such as playgrounds and parks.
Moreover, he charges that the development of the decriminalization policy lacked consideration on the second order impacts, and thought on how its implications would play out on the ground in communities.
“A lot of the commentary I see around this is very theoretical, and it’s almost akin to some sort of academic exercise,” he quipped.
“It seems to me somewhere along the way, we’ve really lost touch with common sense and reality. There has to be a scenario where you have compassion for people struggling with addiction issues and get them the support and help that they need, but also draw a line that it is now okay to use dangerous, deadly drugs at a children’s playground.”
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