In 2016, the provincial health officer declared a public health emergency over the exponential growth of drug overdoses. Eight years later, the crisis has killed over 14’000 people across the province, with no end in sight.
Given that drug use is common in this city, one must wonder about the council’s plan to support users among its residents. Unfortunately, the prevalent view among council members is the stereotypical take that junkies and homeless wretches only form one group, to be treated accordingly.
“There is stigma. I want there to be stigma, because I don’t want everyone to think that the use of drugs is normalised, for us and our children and grandchildren.” This came from the mouth of Coucillor Gardiner on July 18’s Committee of the Whole meeting, amid ramblings that the unhoused throughout the city are rabid pack animals under the influence of drugs, who need treatment first instead of housing first.
And if you think this is bad, just listen to Councillor Caradonna propose in the same meeting that the Canadian military line up those same people at a concentration camp for triage. These commentaries are but samples of the vitriol pouring out of council meetings under this administration.
No wonder then it staunchly opposes public drug use, going as far as massively investing in hostile architecture that will allow them to displace drug users to nowhere. The most blatant example is the proposed splash pad which is to replace the Centennial Square fountain, a costly project nobody asked for. It can only have been introduced to exploit an upcoming amendment to Health Canada’s drug decriminalisation pilot forbidding drug use within 15 metres of a spray pool, a measure which was already being debated within the Union of BC Municipalities; in fact, Councillor Hammond had been pushing for even more stringent restriction on drug use near “child-focused spaces” months prior.
Advocates have been warning every level of government all along that rolling back those exemptions would result in more deaths, and even more if the provincial government’s sordid plan to force users into involuntary treatment at carceral facilities proceeds. But the City of Victoria, in its hubris, has declared that every drug user is a public nuisance to be either marched into involuntary treatment or sprayed away like vermin. This attitude is delusional and unconscionable. It comes from presumptuous bureaucrats lacking any understanding of drug use, may it be its demographics, causes, rationale, or remedies. Manifestly none on this council has lost a loved one to this perpetual public health emergency, nor has had to use naloxone on them.
As long as this callous administration remains in power, people who use drugs will continue to suffer and die in the gutters of this town. The Victoria Liberation Front is determined to rally drug users and advocates against this gust of moral panic in order to stem the flow of preventable deaths—and this fight begins at City Hall.
