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By Regan Tate

Alberta Premier alarmed over move to decriminalize some illicit drugs in British Columbia

Jun 1, 2022 | 9:48 AM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Premier Jason Kenney says Alberta’s government is alarmed that British Columbia is moving to decriminalize some illicit drugs.

The Government of British Columbia and the Government of Canada announced Tuesday that residents over the age of 18 can possess up to a cumulative 2.5 grams of opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine and MCMA. British Columbia had requested an exemption from the law criminalizing drug possession.

Premier Jason Kenney says many cities across Canada have existed in a de facto state of drug decriminalization for years. Kenney says in major cities like Vancouver the move has led to significant increases in crime, drug use and death.

“Alberta’s government will never allow our communities to become sanctuaries for cartels and drug traffickers. This action will likely result in a dramatic increase in drug use, violence, trafficking and addiction – something that health systems are already overburdened with”, says Kenney.

Alberta supports dealing with addiction as a health-care issue while keeping our communities safe. We should never have to choose between the two. We have spent the past three years putting in place unprecedented resources to fund and create treatment services so that people with the illness of addiction can get their lives back.

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Kenney says the Government of Alberta will be monitoring the situation closely warning that Alberta is prepared to exhaust all options should their actions cause damage to Albertans.

The Premier suggests the move is politically motivated. He says Prime Minister Trudeau specifically said he would not decriminalize drugs in the last election. “This is clearly a result of the Liberal-NDP coalition and was likely demanded by the NDP as a condition of the agreement.”

The province notes that since 2017, 50 percent of people who fatally overdosed in Alberta spent time in a provincial correctional centre in the two years before their death. Eighty per cent of them were there for non-drug related offences and the remaining 20 per cent were there for drug trafficking offences. Since 2017, fewer than five people who were arrested and sent to jail for simple possession died of an overdose. Therefore, the notion that decriminalizing drugs will have any significant effect on the overdose crisis is simply not grounded in reality.

Kenney is strongly urging the Government of Canada to focus efforts on the interdiction of deadly and dangerous drugs at the border.