Following presentations by Sarah Lovegrove, vice president of the Harm Reduction Nurses Association, and Beverly Planes, who spoke about her lived experience with substance use, Coun. Ian Thope made a motion to send a letter to the province around its drug policy.
The motion read: “That Council send a letter to the provincial government asking it to reexamine its philosophy regarding the ongoing drug addiction crisis and resulting mental health and street disorder issues – stating that the current policy of decriminalization and enabling drug use at consumption sites is failing to provide effective long term solutions for either those with addictions, or for neighbourhoods impacted by the problem.”
Lovegrove didn’t mince words in her presentation saying that “politicized arguments like this motion driven by nimbyism and colonial privilege, undermine science, threaten public health and jeopardize the health and safety of our entire community.”
Planes, a mother of four, spoke to council about her lived experience and advocacy as a person who used drugs.
“This motion is not about reexamining philosophy, it’s about how many funerals we are prepared to accept,” she said.
Planes told council that every overdose reversed in an Overdose Prevention Site was “one less emergency call, one less crew doing CPR in a stairwell, and one less body in a bag.”
Removing the Overdose Prevention Site, Planes added, would not protect anyone but just shift the burden of responding to overdoses to the fire department.
Thorpe said his motion was “not directly about the consumption site, to me that is a symbol of the government policy after 12 years of the opioid crisis that needs to be reexamined.”
Thorpe added that the “root of the problem is substance abuse and drug addiction causing mental illness and resulting social disorder.”
Coun. Ben Geselbracht said that the motion was “throwing the overdose prevention site unnecessarily under the bus,” adding that overdose prevention sites were never meant to be long-term solutions to addiction.
“Their purpose is simple and urgent,” he said. “To prevent death.”
Coun. Janice Perrino said that she has lost a family member to the overdose crisis and that while overdose prevention sites keep people alive, she supported Thorpe’s motion because “we are failing to provide effective long-term solutions for those with addictions.”
Coun. Paul Manly told council that his cousin had died of a toxic drug overdose and spoke about the four pillars approach advocated by former Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell that included harm reduction, education, treatment and enforcement.
“Right now we’re standing on a pogo stick where we focused on harm reduction,” he said.
Manly said what’s needed is a housing first approach for people facing homelessness and addiction and the focus of the motion did not reflect that.
Mayor Leonard Krog supported Thorpe’s motion, acknowledging that the Overdose Prevention Site “does save lives but saving those lives for what purpose?”
“If there’s no treatment available, if we are not putting money at the other end, if we are not providing housing and supports, and if we are not prepared as a society to stop pussyfooting around and put people in secure, involuntary care in far greater numbers than has been suggested.”
Coun. Hilary Eastmure said she was appalled by the mayor’s statement.
“To what end?” she asked. “To save their lives.”
Eastmure said that people who use drugs deserve treatment and access to housing.
“Housing is health care and I think this is a big thing that all of this discussion is coming down to, and it’s just not reflected in this motion,” she said.
The motion to send the letter failed 3-5 with Mayor Krog, and councillors Thorpe and Perrino voting for it and councillors Geselbracht, Eastmure, Hemmens, Brown and Manly voting against it. Coun. Sheryl Armstrong, who attended the meeting electronically, was absent for the vote.
