Proposed bylaw to deal with harm reduction
Councillor suggests restricting how advocates hand out needles and other supplies
City council is exploring a new bylaw to limit harm reduction materials in Charlottetown.
Earlier this month, members of the strategic priorities committee heard a proposal to look into harm reduction in P.E.I. with a goal of restricting how advocates hand out needles, pipes and other harm reduction supplies.
Coun. Mitchell Tweel brought the notice of motion, calling on the city to invite Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Heather Morrison to speak.
Tweel suggested this larger discussion would be part of an in-depth process that includes NGOS who distribute what he calls “drug paraphernalia.”
He highlighted the locations such materials are being found by residents.
“We have needles, crack pipes, all over the City of Charlottetown. Public spaces, playgrounds, sports fields, our historic heritage squares, private property — like people’s backyards, their front yards — businesses,” he said. “Our small businesses have had to deal with this on a daily basis.”
A bylaw would show residents the city is responding to their concerns, while making clear rules for harm reduction tools in Charlottetown, he said.
“What I’m looking for is a bylaw that would put in place a structure where drug paraphernalia can be distributed, where it can’t be distributed.”
QUESTIONS
Members of the committee were confused by Tweel’s presentation, noting it appeared to differ from the notice of motion on paper.
Councillors Trevor Mackinnon and Norman Beck, who chairs the committee, asked for clarification on the scope of the project, with Mackinnon suggesting Tweel was getting off track when discussing Morrison.
Tweel argued he was being comprehensive in his approach.
Police Chief Brad Macconnell also attended the meeting and noted tools such as pipes and needles are legal under the criminal code. When the federal government
legal is en dr de creation al cannabis, they also made room for those items, he said. Also, in recent years, the federal prosecution office directed federal lawyers to focus on higher level drug crime, not possession by drug users.
“From a harm reduction lens, we work in alignment (with government) to try to treat simple possession through a preventative and treatment focus, as opposed to criminalising those. But (we) focus enforcement efforts on those involved in organised crime and making a living off the sale of drugs.”
On the other hand, some municipalities have bylaws about harm reduction items, he added. These are not blanket bans, but draw up parameters, such as distance from public recreational facilities, he said.
“There is mixed success and challenges on those.”
Asked about the laws around distributing paraphernalia, Macconnell said he was not aware of any laws in Canada against it.
UNPREDICTABLE
Mayor Philip Brown also pushed back against Tweel’s emphasis on making drug use more consistent and predictable through rules. Brown spoke about growing up in a home where alcohol addiction was a problem, saying it was never predictable.
“You’re trying to look at a pathway where we can make things happen, and it will be neatly packaged. Well, I’ve gone through it,” he said. “Am I a better person for it? I don’t know.”
P.E.I., like other provinces, has harm reduction programs such as needle exchange because they reduce the spread of blood-borne illnesses such as HIV, hepatitis and syphilis, the provincial government website says.
NGOS run some of these programs, with funding from the federal or provincial government.
Late last year, the Native Council of P.E.I. told city council their harm reduction program takes in more discarded materials than it hands out.