Vancouver certainly didn’t make as many international headlines as Toronto and its mayor did this year when it comes to illegal drug use, but there were still enough major — often confusing — drug policy developments for it to make the cut as this year’s potential Newsmaker of the Year.
Insite, North America’s only supervised safe-injection site, celebrated its 10th anniversary this year despite Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s repeated attempts to shut it down. After Supreme Court of Canada judges unanimously decided to allow Insite, which is administered by the city with the blessing of the provincial government, to stay open, it seemed likely other Canadian cities would open facilities modeled on the Downtown Eastside harm reduction clinic.
This all changed after the federal government introduced the so-called Respect for Communities Act, which sets out a long list of criteria that an applicant must meet to get an exemption to operate an injection site, including having to consider the views of police, provincial ministers and local government officials before granting the exemption to drug laws that would allow the clinics to operate.
“I’m not interested in having a debate about harm reduction,” newly appointed health minister Rona Ambrose told reporter Mike Howell in October. “The larger debate that I’m trying to have is to put some focus — not just on Insite, which is controversial and one small part of the overall harm reduction — but let’s also talk about harm elimination.”
Ambrose also recently put a stop to a Health Canada decision allowing a clinical trial in Vancouver that would have provided small doses of heroin for addicts attempting to wean themselves off the drug after other opiates had proven ineffective.
While most Vancouverites probably don’t have first-hand experience with heroin or other hard drugs, marijuana is a different matter.
A recent Angus Reid poll found that 73 per cent of B.C. residents support the legalization and regulation of cannabis, but when Premier Christy Clark was asked during the annual Union of B.C. Municipalities meeting this fall if this was something on her radar, the answer was a curt “no.”
Private citizens have taken the matter into their own hands. Drug reform activist Dana Larsen launched a province-wide grass-roots campaign called Sensible B.C. that hopes to gather at least 360,000 signatures — or 10 per cent of registered voters in all 85 provincial ridings — in order for Elections B.C. to consider putting the question to a referendum as it did with the HST.
The 90-day campaign drive finishes later this week and the final numbers aren’t yet known.
Recent changes to Canada’s medical marijuana laws also means that hundreds of Vancouver residents who were previously licensed by Health Canada to grow their own supply will no longer be able to do so.
The move is meant to stop pot from being diverted to the black market but may result in medical marijuana users, many of whom have spent thousands of dollars on personal equipment, being forced to pay big bucks to commercial producers for something they were formerly allowed to grow themselves.
In the meantime, 29 unlicensed marijuana dispensaries remain in operation across the city and seem unlikely to become a top priority for Vancouver police.
The Vancouver Courier Newsmaker of the Year will be announced Dec. 11.
To participate in our Newsmaker of the Year Reader’s Choice vote, go to the web poll at vancourier.com, email us your vote at [email protected] or drop a letter to 1574 West Sixth Ave., Vancouver, V6J 1R2. You can also make your vote or view known through social media at #VanNewsmaker.
