Kootenay East MLA, Tom Shypitka, said the provincial government isn’t doing enough to address B.C.’s drug crisis.
“People of British Columbia need to hold the government to account,” he said.
“This isn’t political this is just doing the right things and getting the right outcomes but we’re not seeing it from this government right now.”
BC United leader, Kevin Falcon, said there needs to be more of a focus on free treatment centres instead of drug decriminalization.
“Our focus is to make sure that we have treatment facilities in every region of the province and not just 30 or 90-day programs that all the evidence shows don’t work well,” he said.
“Free treatment where you can stay up to a year and get not only off your addictions but also be treated with encouragement to relearn some life skills, so when you graduate back into the community it’s with a job, a future and some hope and optimism.”
He added that involuntary treatment may also be needed in some cases.
“We are going to make those investments close to home so people can be taken off the street, involuntary if necessary when they have severe untreated mental health issues and put into secure facilities where they can get 24/7 medical and psychiatric support.”
Shypitka said the crisis will only get worse unless changes like these are made.
“Without those supports in place, we’re seeing this crisis exasperated to the point where people don’t feel safe on the streets anymore,” he said.
“There’s crime, there’s open drug use because of decriminalization. Everything this government has done has had the exact opposite effect of what it was supposed to do in the first place.”
Since a public health emergency was issued in 2016, over 14,500 people have died from drug poisoning in B.C.
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