Moe calls for crackdown on drug users, against expert advice

WATCH: Premier Scott Moe is encouraging police services to further crack down on drug possession for both dealers and those using illicit substances.

Premier Scott Moe is encouraging police services in Saskatchewan to further crack down on drug possession for both dealers and those using illicit substances.

“It’s still illegal to have drugs on your person or in your possession, and it’s time now for us to engage with our enforcement leaders across this province and start taking these poisonous drugs away because they’re killing those individuals,” Moe said Tuesday.

Moe was speaking to realtors gathered at the Saskatchewan Realtors Association State of Real Estate Conference when he touched on his government’s goals of increasing public safety and penalizing drug users.

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“We’ve got kids that are seeing that it’s okay to carry these things and use these things. It’s not. It’s nothing short of a murder in our community when we are allowing these things to be available,” Moe said.

Barbara Fornssler, an assistant professor at the University of Saskatchewan’s School of Public Health, says more than two decades of research shows a jail cell isn’t where a vulnerable drug user belongs, and a punitive approach to addictions and mental health issues may not improve matters.

“You might sweep someone into a jail cell overnight, maybe for a small period of time, but then they’re going to be right back where they started,” she said.

Fornssler, who has been working in substance use research since 2011 and teaches multiple courses on the matter, said the province needs to change its thinking from good versus bad to healthy and unhealthy.

Rather than see a drug user as a criminal, she wants the province to treat substances as a health issue in need of medical attention.

“I’m not sure why our leadership is so averse to following scientific evidence and practices that have been well vetted over a period of the last 20 years and continues down this path of this failed war on drugs approach,” she said.

“It doesn’t make sense to keep doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome.”

Fornssler said the war on drugs hasn’t worked for the last 50 years.

She’s instead imploring policymakers to create a culture of trust and community-building by funding the proper supports people need, rather than perpetuate a culture of fear through policing and enforcement of what should be thought of as a health issue.

“There’s a lot of complex issues going on that way, and our police officers working the frontline are saying, ‘If the only tool in my toolbox is a jail cell, I can’t actually help this person,’” Fornssler said.

The Saskatoon Police Service altered its approach to drug use in 2022 when the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act was amended to reframe substance use as a health and social issue — reserving judicial resources for offences that pose a risk to public safety.

Now when police do lay possession charges, they tend to be in conjunction with another violation, like the breach of court-imposed conditions, or accompanied by other charges like weapons offences or trafficking.

Officers are instructed to direct people to drug awareness or other community programs, but a report in 2024 showed referrals have been slow and police response is limited.

With Saskatoon experiencing a rise in homelessness since the pandemic, Fornssler understands people may be fearful and not want to see people using drugs in public.

During this fall’s point-in-time homelessness count, there were 1,931 experiencing homelessness. That’s more than the population of Rosthern.

She would like to see the province open supervised consumption sites similarly to how people drinking alcohol are given spaces to do so.

Even as the province looks to increase treatment spaces for addictions, Fornssler said waitlists at many places are six weeks or longer.

“I don’t understand why there’s always a jail bed available immediately, but there’s never a treatment bed available immediately when somebody wants to go and change their relation with substances,” Fornssler said.

Moe says enforcement should come as a secondary piece as the province adds entry points for people seeking addictions treatment, but the province won’t be providing safe access to drug supplies or places for people to use drugs.

“The goal is not to hand out needles or any other drug paraphernalia and extend their life of addictions,” Moe said. “We need recovery access points and the capacity.”

Fornssler worries if the province continues to push policies that punish drug users rather than increasing access for healthcare treatment, Saskatchewan’s outcomes won’t improve.

“It speaks to the priorities and where we’re putting our dollars as taxpayers, and as citizens,” she said.