Outgoing BC RCMP superintendent says drug decriminalization 'most horrific failure of public policy' in past 30 years

Outgoing Prince George RCMP superintendent Shaun Wright has labelled the decriminalization of hard drugs in British Columbia "the most horrific failure of public policy" in the past 30 years.He argued that far from accomplishing the intended goal of reducing drug use, it simply normalized the practice, and acted as a catalyst for public disorder."Decriminalization, in my personal opinion, is probably the most horrific failure of public policy that I've seen in the last three decades," he said during an interview with the Prince George Citizen earlier this month. "It's been partially walked back — it’s now illegal to use hard drugs in public places — but obviously the long-term effects from that year where it was in full swing is going to take us years to try and walk back."When asked what was so bad about the policy, he argued that it "encouraged or resulted in a significant increase in public disorder and the normalization of hard drug use," which he described as "extremely detrimental to our young people.""It also did nothing to serve the people who are already addicted," he lamented, "and really focused the mindset on how to facilitate people that want to engage in that activity rather than assist them in getting out of that cycle of addiction."Wright, who served in the RCMP for 28 years in communities across the province, questioned why the BC NDP continued to stand by the policy despite achieving little to no reduction in drug overdose deaths in the province. "If you keep doing the same thing or increasing what you've already been doing and the problem just continues to get worse, maybe you need to adopt a different strategy, not just increase access to opioids," he said. "I find it comical that some governments are suing or have sued opioid manufacturers for the opioid crisis because they over-prescribed them and that's what caused this and then some governments are handing them out to anybody that wants them prescribed to them, which strikes me as the exact same thing."Wright warned that more and more drugs handed out by the government were being sold to curious young people instead of being used by the intended recipient, a phenomenon he described as "unfortunate."His comments came just days before the families of two teens impacted by so-called "safe supply" drugs filed a class action lawsuit against the federal government and BC NDP, arguing that they had fallen victim to "negligent misrepresentations."

Outgoing BC RCMP superintendent says drug decriminalization 'most horrific failure of public policy' in past 30 years

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