Mixed response to Premier’s announcement

However, no matter what community you’re in, police resources are strapped. So should these new rules become a reality, can it actually be done?

“This really just takes us back to where we were a little over a year ago. So I don’t want people to expect that overnight open drug use is going to be eradicated. It was an issue for us before, obviously, and was one of our primary focuses. But, really, about a year ago when that key tool for us to interact with these people and move them along was taken away, It really just exacerbated the problem.”

But the Opposition says what the Premier is pursuing doesn’t go nearly as far as it needs to.

“We have raised this issue on behalf of British Columbians month after month after month. And frankly, what the Premier did last week was political damage control,” says Shirley Bond, MLA for Prince George-Valemount. “That’s all it was after the pressure from the opposition, but also police officers and people across the province.”

She says the sense of lawlessness is becoming tiring for those who live in region where resources are scant.

“The devastating part of this is that this government has known all along that there are not adequate resources, particularly in rural British Columbia. And to be honest, people who live where we live are tired of this. We are done.”

Bond says this government’s “experiment” in decriminalization is going to continue. And continue to fail.

by Cheryl Jahn

Mixed response to Premier’s announcement

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