Councillor wants city to explore decriminalizing possession of small amounts of illegal drugs
CTV
On Monday, Edmonton city council will hear a motion that could be the city’s first step toward decriminalizing minor drug offences.
On Monday, Edmonton city council will hear a motion that could be the city’s first step toward decriminalizing minor drug offences.
The motion is being brought forward by city councillor Michael Janz, who is hoping to change the way harm reduction and the treatment of addiction are approached in Edmonton.
“We need to take a new strategy,” said Michael Janz, Edmonton city councillor of Ward Papastew. “This is the first step. It’s about moving drugs away from a criminal justice or an abstinence approach and moving it more towards a public health approach.
“We’ve seen across Canada that the current approach to drugs is not working, that almost 1,400 Albertans died last year from drug poisoning, how many more people have to die before we change course?”
Montreal, Vancouver, and Toronto are already calling on the federal government to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of illegal drugs – in hopes to take on the opioid crisis and prevent further deaths caused by drug poisoning.
Janz said the first step for Edmonton will be looking to those cities as an example.
“With that information, we can then move forward as Edmonton in building our own solution,” said Janz.
