<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The drug crisis in our community stems from multiple, compounding failures that demand honest examination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Failures in Enforcement and Oversight<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The provincial government bears responsibility for ensuring adequate and effective policing in British Columbia, including setting public-safety policy, funding and overseeing provincial policing services, and enforcing provincial drug-regulatory laws. [1], [4]<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Federal assessments recognize that Canada\u2019s major marine ports, including Vancouver, are vulnerable to organized-crime smuggling because of their high container volumes. Criminal proceeds are also laundered to conceal their illicit origin and make them appear legitimate, creating risks to Canada\u2019s financial and asset markets. [2], [3]<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n A Policy Framework That Treats Symptoms, Not Causes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n B.C.\u2019s response has placed substantial emphasis on harm reduction, including overdose-prevention services, supervised consumption, and prescribed safer supply. The Auditor General of British Columbia <\/strong>found that the responsible ministries had not effectively implemented key harm-reduction programs, identifying weaknesses in planning, performance measures, and evaluation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, a legislative committee concluded that enforcement against trafficking and illicit supply must remain part of the broader response and recommended that B.C. work with the federal government and port authorities to disrupt drugs imported or produced by domestic and international criminal organizations. [5]<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Compassion for people struggling with addiction is both right and necessary. But compassion should be paired with accountability, treatment, recovery, and pathways back to stable family and community life\u2014not policies that may unintentionally entrench dependence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Across many moral and faith traditions, including Eastern teachings on self-cultivation and family responsibility and the Christian emphasis on human dignity, repentance, and renewal, addiction is understood as deeply harmful to the individual and to those around them. These traditions call on communities to offer mercy and practical support while remaining clear that recovery, responsibility, and restoration must be the goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Lack of Data Clarity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Government reporting still fails to provide a sufficiently clear public account of how substance dependence begins and develops. In many cases, available data cannot distinguish whether drugs were obtained through a lawful prescription, diversion of prescribed medication, or the illicit market. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While B.C. collects linked overdose information, public reporting does not consistently show repeat overdose events, the pathways that lead people from medical exposure to illicit use, or the wider impact on families and communities. Without transparent, privacy-protected reporting on these distinctions, governments cannot properly evaluate policy, direct treatment and prevention resources, or target enforcement against those supplying harmful drugs. [6]<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Burnaby’s Affordable Housing Plans<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Province, BC Housing, Fraser Health, and the operating provider must stop the current Prescribed Alternatives (PA) program which is a medical, witnessed-dosing model<\/p>\n\n\n\n The public demand the health authority to provide a complete, publicly accessible, and accountable operating plan, the transferable result, the accountability of such funding before receiving any municipal approval, facilitation on such program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n That plan must include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n We further urge to advocate the provincial legislative reform creating a verified resident-petition trigger. When a prescribed number of affected residents submit a properly verified petition raising serious concerns about public accountability, safety oversight, administrative fairness, or legal compliance, an independent review by the British Columbia<\/strong> Office of the Ombudsperson<\/strong> and another independent authority should be required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The purpose is not to deny housing or health services to vulnerable people. It is to ensure that governments and publicly funded providers cannot proceed with high-impact mixed housing-and-health-service projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n We note that cannabis was decriminalized and brought under a regulated legal framework by the federal Liberal government in 2018; accordingly, cannabis falls outside the scope of this position. Our opposition applies to all other substances, including the hard and illicit drugs described above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n In summary we find that the government have long ignore the voice of residents <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Enforce the law.<\/strong> The federal Criminal Code<\/em> already defines illegal drugs clearly. Enforcement authority rests with the provincial government, which has chronically failed to exercise it. This failure is the primary driver of the worsening crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n No drug use facilities in Burnaby.<\/strong> We oppose the establishment of any licensed or unlicensed drug injection, inhalation, or consumption sites within Burnaby \u2014 whether in community centers, public spaces, or private properties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mandate data transparency.<\/strong> Government must clearly distinguish, in policy and in published data, between cases of medical over-prescription and cases of illegal drug abuse. Resources must be directed toward prevention, treatment, and community safety \u2014 not toward programs that effectively normalize ongoing dependency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n John Wong<\/p>\n\n\n\n I welcome questions, responses, and counterarguments. Please write to [sherpas@avocado53state.org] and I will do my best to respond thoughtfully<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Citation <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n [1] https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/11295070\/province-responds-new-westminster-crime\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n [2] https:\/\/www.canada.ca\/en\/department-finance\/programs\/financial-sector-policy\/nira-neri\/2025\/report.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n [3] https:\/\/www.publicsafety.gc.ca\/cnt\/rsrcs\/pblctns\/rgnzd-crm-brf-25\/index-en.aspx<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n [4] https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/british-columbia\/new-research-on-police-response-to-drug-decriminalization-9.7178051<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n