STRAIGHT TALK

OD DEATHS GET LITTLE ACTION FROM B.C. LIBS

With all the hoopla about the Trudeau government’s proposed marijuana legislation, cannabis crusader Jodie Emery has called for amnesty for those prosecuted for past offences.

April 14 marks the passage of one year since the provincial government declared a public-health emergency related to illicit-drug overdose deaths.

Since then, almost another 1,000 people have died, about five times the annual average of 204 deaths for the years 2001 to 2010.

The same week, the B.C. Liberals released their party platform for the upcoming provincial election (May 9), and it doesn’t include much on the crisis, candidates for the NDP and the Greens were quick to point out.

“I’m appalled,” said Selina Robinson, the NDP MLA for Coquitlam-maillardville. “This says that they don’t care.”

Robinson told the Straight the NDP will reveal its plan for responding to the overdose crisis this Thursday (April 13).

“You’ll see our platform later this week and there will be some details in there that will shed a light on something that the B.C. Liberals and Christy Clark have left in the dark,” she said in a telephone interview.

In the Liberals’ platform, the overdose epidemic is first referenced on page 103 of 129, toward the bottom of a section on mental health.

“2016 was also a year of needless deaths from opioid overdoses, particularly with the rise of illicit fentanyl and carfentanil across Canada,” it reads. “Here in B.C., we have led the country in our response to this crisis, being the first province to declare a public health emergency and assemble an expert Joint Task Force.”

On future action, the Liberals’ platform promises $12 million for “up to 28 highly specialized addiction treatment beds for youth”, $2 million annually for the new Vancouver-based B.C. Centre on Substance Use, and $10 million “to reduce wait lists for substance use treatment services”.

Jonina Campbell, the B.C. Green candidate for New Westminster, told the Straight that her party plans to give the crisis “significantly” more attention than the current government.

“When the Liberals talk about keeping B.C. strong, they are obviously referring to a community that does not include those who are struggling with mental health and addictions,” she said.

At an April 11 memorial in the Downtown Eastside marking the public emergency’s one-year anniversary, harm-reduction advocate Sarah Blyth argued that the overdose epidemic is an issue every candidate should be talking about.

“We’re going to make it a provincial election issue whether they like it or not,” she said. “People are dying. If that’s not an election issue, then I don’t know what is.” The federal Liberal government is expected to table legislation to legalize recreational marijuana on Thursday (April 13), exactly one week ahead of the world’s annual 4/20 celebration of all things cannabis.

The proposed law will be debated in Parliament. Then it’s likely that each province and territory will require some time to work out regulatory details.

In the meantime, long-time advocates for marijuana reform want to know if Ottawa has any plans to provide relief on past offences.

Just last month, Canada’s most prominent marijuana advocates, Jodie Emery and her husband, Marc, were charged with conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, possession for the purpose of trafficking, and possession of the proceeds of crime.

In a telephone interview, Jodie said that once the new laws come into effect, she wants the federal government to look at expunging records of crimes that are no longer crimes.

“We should have amnesty, pardons, and an official apology from the government,” she told the Straight.

At the same time, Jodie painted a bleak picture of how she predicts the Liberals’ regulatory framework for marijuana will work.

“We know the government will not apologize for prohibition because we know they intend to maintain it,” she said. “The form of legalization that they are going to put forward is really just an economic opportunity for a select few people while everybody else continues to be arrested.…growers and dispensaries will continue to be criminalized and they will introduce even tougher penalties for people operating outside the legal system.”

The Straight asked Justin Trudeau about amnesty at a campaign stop in Vancouver in August 2015.

“That’s something that we’ll be looking into as we move forward,” he said. “There has been many situations over history when laws come in that overturn previous convictions, and there will be a process for that that we will set up in a responsible way.”

> TRAVIS LUPICK

MORE UNDERFUNDING, MORE CUTS TO SCHOOLS Due to another funding shortage from the province, over $2 million in educational, maintenance, and administrative services for the next school year could be eliminated in Vancouver.

The education cuts recommended by district staff include the closure of two of the city’s three remaining centres for adult education.

The district may also lose all of its career-information advisers, who help high-school students explore options for postsecondary education.

Funding for aboriginal education might also be slashed and King George secondary school staffing could be reduced. Proposed cuts to educational services total almost $1 million, with maintenance and administration absorbing the rest.

The district was previously forecast to have a bigger deficit of almost $15 million for school year 2017-18. This was reduced significantly after the B.C. government created a Classroom Enhance Fund (CEF) after a Supreme Court of Canada decision restoring contract language on class size and composition in the labour agreement with teachers. With its share the Vancouver school district was able to realign costs.

According to former trustee Patti Bacchus, the new round of cuts demonstrates that not much has changed since she and other elected members of the Vancouver School Board were fired by the province last October.

“We put our jobs on the line last year to say, ‘No more. We’re not going to say this is okay,’” Bacchus said by phone, referring to the previous board’s refusal to pass a balanced budget after services were cut due to a budget gap of $21.8 million.

She added that the trustee appointed by the province after the board’s sacking can deliver a message to the government. “She needs to go back and say, ‘There’s not enough money. This is not okay,’” Bacchus said of trustee Dianne Turner. “That would be a powerful message.”

Turner is scheduled to make a budget decision on April 26.

> CARLITO PABLO