Provincial leaders gather to discuss solutions to crime, drugs, and more

“As a result of our action, we have almost eliminated fatalities by pharmaceutical opioids, that data is undeniable. Deaths involving methamphetamine on is trending down very sharply,” Smith said.

The data presented by Smith at the forum

Smith explained Alberta adopted involuntary care through its Compassionate Care Act, which Smith says saves lives while also addressing mental health. A large component of this is bringing mental health supports in correctional facilities, offering people the chance to truly reform and get sober before re-entering society.

“We built treatment centres inside our correctional centres, we staffed them with therapists. They’re called Therapeutic Living Units (TLUs), we have inmates lined up around the block to get into the TLUs and they are the best treatment programs that we have. I’ve been doing treatment for 15 years, and they are the best, most intense treatment processes that we have. These inmates sit in a circle for nine hours a day doing the deep, transformative work, you know, like the ugly crying, right? And they come out of there changed,” Smith said.

Smith elaborated, saying its equally as important to have a continuum of care. Once you get people into care and treatment, he said its essential to have the facilities to keep them in care, and provide them the supports to continue on a journey of sobriety to take people off of the streets and help change their lives. While it is based on involuntary care, Smith believes this is what needs to be done to save people who may not be able to save themselves.

“This is a law that says that if you are a danger to yourself as a result of drug use, then there is a list of people, parents, elders, relatives, police officer, doctor, child protection officer, social worker, counselor, who may make an application to the intervention commission, which is a Crown agency that the bill is creating to hear these cases. These intervention cases will not be heard in a courtroom. They will not be heard by judges. They will be heard by a quasi-judicial panel of community members whose job it is to make sure you get the care that you need, when you can’t make decisions for yourself and to guard the social contract in terms of of what is necessary for the community,” Smith explained.

How does B.C. get to this point? Smith believes leadership has to take control, as he pointed out during the forum that there is no individual person that is in charge of spearheading this. In Alberta, the Premier is the figurehead to lead the charge, and committees and appointed officials follow in their lead. He adds there must be full buy in, but adds that B.C.’s decriminalization of drugs will be a tough hurdle to overcome, although not impossible.

“Addiction is about continued use despite consequences, so addicts will continue to use until the consequences of their using outweigh the benefits. So once you you have a system where there are… there are no consequences right now, we’ve removed all the consequences,” he said.

“The reality is this is not an acceptable lifestyle choice as many in the community would have us (believe), you know, sort of this narrative that is growing and that our job is just to make sure people can use safely. That’s bull___. Right? Snap out of it. You know that none of these things are good and and it is not healthy, and it is going to kill you and it will continue to kill people,” he continued, explaining how consequences must be in place to deter drug use.

That isn’t to say Smith is in favour of extreme punishments, as he believes that the simple act of addiction is enough of a consequence as is, but that the way things were prior to the government walking back decriminalization was not sustainable for proper treatment and care.

It’s taken a toll on police, as mental health isn’t their specialty but they’re often the ones dealing with a crisis, only for nothing to happen.

“We (police officers) don’t even want to lay charges because we know the chances of anything coming forward is slim, and placing a charge means all of the paperwork and all the time, and taking them actually off the street to deal with it,” Rustad said.

Medical experts believe gathering as much data as possible is key before enacting change, but Smith says you can’t sit around and wait forever. Mayor Simon Yu was at the conference and he sides with the medical experts, believing you need to have the full picture before enacting sweeping change.

“What’s predictable is always preventable. We need to find the accurate data to reflect individual communities, and then from there, devise a unique solution, not just the same, across the board,” Yu said.

Yu added he learned a lot at the coalition and is excited to return, hoping to bring lasting change and solutions with him

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by Tommy Osborne

Provincial leaders gather to discuss solutions to crime, drugs, and more

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