Why open drug use may not result in criminal charges

And good Wednesday morning, everyone, and welcome to the Wednesday edition of Open Line. Every weekday morning, Brian Callahan takes calls from the public about issues impacting them. Lately, those conversations are on open drug use and addictions. I'd say it's about 50 to 60 percent of what I get right now. What once happened in private is increasingly becoming more public. Needles on park benches and bus seats. The city of St. John's has received over a thousand reports over the last two years of people using drugs in public and leaving their needles behind. A spike from less than a decade ago. We'll do a sweep of that every single day. Enid Pentergast is executive director of the Froud Avenue Community Centre. Smack dab in the middle of Centre City. A thoroughfare. With paths criss-crossing through the low-income housing neighborhood. I think because we're so centralized and we have so many different avenues of people coming and going, that I guess maybe we're like a hideaway spot or a comfortable spot. Pendergast has been here for decades running programs like summer camps and after school care. We definitely had an extreme uprise and even more of the drug paraphernalia being seen around the area, around the centre. It's changed the way the children in her care play. You can't dig in the snow if you don't know what's underneath it. Staff now do daily sweeps of play areas. Kids used to walk here from school to the centre by themselves. Not anymore. The children said, You know, hey miss, we just saw someone, and they were in the pathway, and they knew that they were using. We realized we couldn't let the children walk back and forth to school anymore by themselves. This is a record. We can talk about that, of course. And while the calls and concerns grow, the charges for people in possession of these drugs have not. These numbers from StatsCan show a 10-year drop in drug possession cases right across the province. Same goes right across Canada and it all coincides with a quiet policy change in 2020 by the Public Prosecution Service of Canada. Not outright decriminalization but guidance on when to lay a charge of drug possession or not. It really prioritizes diversion and treatment over jail time and criminal records. They reserve that for more serious cases that pose a risk to public safety. They have their own mandate. Our response to how we deal with open-use drugs or simple possession hasn't changed at all. But Inspector Ryan Pittman says not all cases are the same and that officers have to meet certain criteria to lay a charge and make it stick. When we're dealing with these situations, we actually have to see the person. Consume a drug or be in possession of a drug. Good. Thank you very much, Rob. That's hard to do and justify without a statement Thank you. I really want to thank you for this very important talk in a way that is avoidable for a terrible product. or from someone who wants to be anonymous. I'm very happy to have you here today, Rob. Thank you. My pleasure. So if they have it and they consume it, it may be gone. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. I'm going to go to the microphone. The RNC's stance is that this is a crime The microphone is not going to go out. It's at the back right of me. and that they'll enforce the law, I think that's the microphone. I can hear pretty much anyone. All right. while acknowledging it's also a health issue, Thank you. Okay. Well, thank you very much, Rob. one that the force knows has the public concerned. I'm very happy to be here, Rob. You're welcome. Thank you. All right. It's our job to listen to what the community wants Thank you. Bye-bye. Thank you. and to prioritize and strategically align Good night, everybody. Bye-bye. our resources with those issues and we've been doing that. It's a concern that certainly grew in the wake of the decriminalization pilot project that British Columbia undertook. Fiona Wilson is the Drug Advisory Committee lead with the Canadian Association of Police Chiefs, an organization that stood behind that provincial pilot project but changed tact two years ago because they say it lacked adequate guardrails around public consumption. We don't want to introduce people to the criminal justice system simply by virtue of a substance use disorder. I also feel really strongly, and I think police leadership across this country feels strongly that our public spaces ought to be accessible and safe and usable by all members in our community. Instead of a rest, these PPSC guidelines say to look for alternatives, but... I would argue that there is a significant lack of alternatives. Back in St. John's, the gathering place has become a focal point for those criticizing the lack of action on open drug use. The non-profit and city even announced a pilot project that pays guests for cleaning up needles and litter in response. Executive Director and former Deputy Police Chief Colin McNeil says he doesn't condone open drug use, but says court isn't the answer either. Really and truly, what are we trying to address here? What are we trying to address? So it's a catch-and-release game. Someone gets arrested, they go to court, they're out the next day doing the exact same thing. So what have we done? We've just clogged up our justice system with a health-related issue. McNeil believes people have to be held accountable, but how? It's a question being posed from City Hall. We hear it from residents and businesses about homelessness, public drug use, discarded needles. I truly recognize the complex challenges associated with substance use, but wish to be clear that our public spaces must be safe and accessible for everyone. Complex, yes, but with real consequences on both sides of the spectrum. It always amazes me the people who do want to get on open line and express openly because that's how serious it's become for people who see the crisis. This is how serious it is right now that They're willing to put themselves out there and talk about the depths of this fear that they're going through. No judgment. People have illnesses, but at the end of the day, we really want to keep our most vulnerable safe. And now we're in a new space and era where we're just teaching them about different things that can be harmful and hazardous and try to do our best to come safe. Arianna Kelland, CBC News, St. John's.