Opinion: After dragging their feet hard, NDP concedes to public backlash
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VICTORIA — Premier David Eby now concedes that his NDP government should have done more from the outset to restrict open drug use under its beleaguered experiment with decriminalization in B.C.
Eby made the admission on Friday as he announced that the province was seeking the federal government’s assistance “to make public drug use illegal in B.C.”
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“I absolutely accept the critique that these authorities are needed and have been needed for awhile,” Eby told reporters. “That should have been in place, it should have been there. Clearly, with the benefit of hindsight, the police needed those authorities.”
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Those comments were as close as Eby came to uttering a mea culpa for the slow-motion fiasco that has been the NDP government’s experiment with decriminalization.
Otherwise, in addressing why it took until the second year of the experiment for the government to get to this point, Eby made excuses.
The province “leaned too heavily” on the notion that the law against public intoxication could be used to curb open drug use. It faced a “significant challenge” in seizing drugs and arresting users, when possession and use was no longer an offence.
The New Democrats were concerned that a crackdown on open drug use would undermine their goal of “removing the stigma” and encouraging addicts “to reach out for help.”
The premier also blamed the courts for the delay.
When the province finally did bow to the public outcry and enact restrictions on open drug use, the B.C. Supreme Court, siding with the rights of drug users, issued a temporary injunction against implementation.
The injunction, still in place, was one of two last straws that prompted the premier to seek Ottawa’s help.
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“I received a briefing from the attorney general on the state of the litigation that indicated that there was no end in sight for the injunction … and that the case itself might drag out for as much as a year,” Eby explained.
“The second piece was the quickly escalating situation on the ground, particularly in relation to hospitals and use in restaurants. It became clear that even the authorities that we’d attempted to impose at the provincial level would have to be expanded further.”
Those outrages came to light through persistent work in question period by the B.C. United Opposition and some devastating coverage by several B.C. news outlets, including this one.
The revelations were initially met by denials and outright mockery from the NDP side of the house, this being a government that seems incapable of acknowledging when its critics have a point.
But in backing off Friday, Eby grudgingly acknowledged that the New Democrats had been hammered by public opinion, including from some of their own supporters.
“I just want to assure people that we’ve heard you,” he proclaimed. “We see those issues too. I want you and your family to be safe in your community and we’re giving police the tools that they need to address this issue.”
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The New Democrats face major challenges implementing what Eby and Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth both described as “recriminalization.”
The province has formally asked the federal government to re-establish restrictions under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act against illicit drug use and possession in public spaces in B.C.
Only private homes, sheltering spaces and treatment clinics would be exempt, under what Eby characterized as a policy of “tough love” toward drug users.
“If I had my preference, these (restrictions) would be in effect today and, frankly, they would have been in effect awhile ago,” said Eby. “We don’t have a timeline yet from Ottawa, but we have a commitment from them to treat this with urgency and to get these changes into place. My hope is as quick as possible.”
He also hopes that federal re-regulation can survive any court challenge.
The other big challenge involves Eby’s vow of “zero tolerance for illicit drugs in hospitals, outside of designated medically supervised addiction treatment areas.”
Just last week the premier said there will be “no provincewide mandate that every single hospital have an overdose prevention site or a consumption area.”
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Apparently, the plan is now to establish secure spaces for addicts to take drugs and specialized teams to oversee the drug taking. But open drug use has got way out of hand in the hospitals, and it won’t be easy to get the problem under control.
The New Democrats insist there are no plans to abandon other aspects of decriminalization. It is an open question whether there is enough left of the experiment to judge its success or failure.
Privately, the New Democrats are hoping the changes are sufficient to end the horror stories about open drug use that have dominated news coverage in recent weeks.
As for the premier, contrast this episode with his predecessor’s handling of the Royal B.C. Museum makeover.
John Horgan axed the $800 million fiasco after a single month, taking all the blame onto himself.
Eby’s grudging backdown on decriminalization came at the 15-month mark of an experiment that stumbles along, still with little to show in the way of positive results.
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