Sicamous council sending a letter to Premier Eby calling for drug decriminalization to be repealed

Letter calls for decrim to end

Photo: Luc Rempel

The District of Sicamous council is calling on Premier David Eby to end the province's drug decriminalization pilot after receiving a letter from a Canadian activist who speaks out against human trafficking.

At a March 12 meeting, council reviewed a letter from Cathy Peters, an anti-human trafficking advocate, who asked council members to send a letter to the premier to urge for a repeal on the "law" decriminalizing drugs.

The province's decriminalization pilot is actually a three-year exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Under the exemption, possessing small amounts of certain illicit drugs for personal use in specific locations is allowed.

Last year, the province asked the federal government to amend its exemption from drug laws to re-criminalize possession and use in public places for safety reasons.

“The full decriminalization of hard drugs is normalizing hard drug usage in British Columbia, particularly among youth and the vulnerable,” Peters said in her letter. “Sex and drug trafficking go together and are escalating in every corner of B.C.”

Peters said a reversal of decriminalization may put a stop to "Trump tariffs" and could show "that Canada is serious about stopping fentanyl use, production, sale and shipment."

Coun. Bob Evans spoke up in support of the letter.

“We were a bellwether community when we did not allow the use of hard drugs in public places,” Evans said.

Sicamous was one of the first communities in B.C. to pass a bylaw banning the public use of drugs in district parks in 2023.

“I was just going to ask that our mayor send a letter to Premier David Eby, because this is not working,” Evans said. “She's fighting against human trafficking, and there's a lot of it in Canada.”

Mayor Colleen Anderson said she “totally supports this,” calling it an issue that affects “all of our communities.”

Council unanimously passed a motion to send a letter to the premier, calling for a repeal on the laws decriminalizing small amounts of drugs.