Drug decriminalization: Statement from Premier Kenney

Premier Jason Kenney issued the following statement in response to the joint announcement of drug decriminalization between the Government of Canada and the Government of British Columbia:

“Today the Government of Canada and the Government of British Columbia announced they will be moving forward with their agenda of normalizing drug use by decriminalizing deadly and dangerous drugs.

“Many cities across Canada have existed in a defacto state of drug decriminalization for years now. The de-policing of areas in major cities like Vancouver has led to significant increases in disorder, crime, drug use and death. These Liberal-NDP policies are clearly not working.

“Alberta’s government will never allow our communities to become sanctuaries for cartels and drug traffickers. This action will likely result in a dramatic increase in drug use, violence, trafficking and addiction – something that health systems are already overburdened with.

“Our government supports dealing with addiction as a health-care issue while keeping our communities safe. We should never have to choose between the two. We have spent the past three years putting in place unprecedented resources to fund and create treatment services so that people with the illness of addiction can get their lives back.

“As a neighbouring province, the Government of Alberta is alarmed by this announcement to decriminalize and we will be monitoring the situation very closely. I want to state in the strongest possible terms to the Government of Canada and the Government of British Columbia that Alberta will exhaust all options should their actions cause damage to Albertans.

“There has been no consultation on decriminalization of drugs between the federal government and the public or the Government of Alberta. In fact, Prime Minister Trudeau specifically said he would not decriminalize drugs in the last election. This is clearly a result of the Liberal-NDP coalition and was likely demanded by the NDP as a condition of the agreement.

“Since 2017, 50 per cent of people who fatally overdosed in Alberta spent time in a provincial correctional centre in the two years before their death. Eighty per cent of them were there for non-drug related offences and the remaining 20 per cent were there for drug trafficking offences. Since 2017, fewer than five people who were arrested and sent to jail for simple possession died of an overdose. Therefore, the notion that decriminalizing drugs will have any significant effect on the overdose crisis is simply not grounded in reality.

“I would also strongly urge the Government of Canada to instead focus their efforts on the interdiction of deadly and dangerous drugs at the border. We know that many of these drugs are manufactured in black market labs and trafficked into Canada by criminals and cartels. Yet, we have seen no effort from the Government of Canada to increase resources for the Canadian Border Services Agency in support of efforts to interdict these deadly and dangerous drugs.”