Interior Health raises concerns about Sicamous’ proposed park drug use ban

Sicamous' mayor Colleen Anderson said the municipality's intent in looking at banning drug use in public parks is to ensure the safety of the community. 

B.C. is now five weeks into its three-year drug decriminalization trial.

The decriminalization trial aims to tackle stigma and address the overdose crisis by allowing adults to carry up to 2.5 grams of opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine and MDMA.

The provincial change of approach has prompted the District of Sicamous to consider a bylaw that would ban drug use in public parks.

However,  Interior Health is raising concerns about the health impacts of the proposed bylaw.

Sicamous’ mayor Colleen Anderson said the municipality’s intent in looking at banning drug use in public parks is to ensure the safety of the community.

“We keep our children safe, we don’t take them to spaces where they witness that or they are part of that environment. We want to keep them away from that as much as possible. We don’t want to normalize that with our children,” Anderson said.

However, the health authority has concerns bylaws like the one proposed in Sicamous could undermine the purpose of decriminalization.

In a letter to the municipality, medical health officer Dr. Jonathan Malo said “implementing by-laws that prohibit public consumption of illicit drugs and fining individuals who choose to do so…re-inforces stigma associated with drug use, and therefore actually counter the intended impacts of decriminalization.