In February 2021, a needle vending machine was installed in Sackville by Ensemble Greater Moncton with the goal of “harm reduction”. The machine also dispenses meth and crack pipes, amongst other things. Readers might be surprised to know that New Brunswick has the second highest per capita rate of intravenous drug use in Canada. A needle vending machine was also installed previously in Moncton.

Image above taken from this article.

Harm reduction refers to a series of protocols that are used to manage a person’s addiction, not to get them off of the drugs. The leading harm-reduction advocate Mark Tyndall believes that the goal of sobriety is outdated and should be abandoned. This means that the advocates are focused on maintaining and enabling drug use behaviour and not trying to get the drug addicts into treatment.

Harm reduction policies have arguably been an unmitigated disaster. Drug use and crime is rising wherever these policies are adopted, such as in Moncton (also see this article) and Vancouver. The author encourages readers to watch the Vancouver is Dying documentary (free on YouTube) in which a drug users says: “Harm reduction. Somebody’s got a sense of humour, man. ‘Cause that (censored) ain’t helping nobody, man. It’s helping everybody get high more”.

Also from the documentary: “According to the Vancouver Police Department, unprovoked attacks on strangers have jumped 35% since 2019.”

That is why in November 2022, the newly-elected NDP premier in British Columbia (BC) has reversed course on its harm reduction approach with its Safer Communities Action Plan. “There will be teams to remove the severely mental ill from the streets, addictions programs that prioritize detox rather than safe consumption and even tightened bail policies intended to keep chronic offenders behind bars”. While BC is reversing course, it is interesting to note that Ensemble Moncton who installed the needle vending machine in Sackville also enables drug users to take drugs in their facilities.

Due to BC’s acknowledgment of the harm reduction policies’ failure, these policies need to be finally abandoned in Sackville as well. Just this year in March 2022, the RCMP and the Cumberland County Integrated Street Crime Enforcement Unit (SCEU) has charged 5 people from Sackville with drug trafficking and other crimes. From the RCMP website: “During the searches and enforcement actions, police arrested a number of people and seized cocaine, methamphetamine, psilocybin, prescription drugs, items that could be used to produce cocaine, […]”. In 2022, Sackville has had a number of assaults, break and enters, and thefts.

Just recently in May 2022, CBC wrote an article about the worsening drug and crime problems in nearby Moncton (the city where the other needle vending machine was also installed by Ensemble Greater Moncton).

Many of the harm reduction advocates also focus on the issue of homelessness for these drug addicted and mentally ill people. But between 2017 and 2021, 50% of the overdose deaths were done in Single Resident Occupancy (SROs) and other supportive housing. The documentary also mentions that “70% of fatal overdoses happen at home alone on the living room floor”.

Portugal has had widespread success in reducing drug use and related deaths through its Dissuasion Commission. In the article they say, “Under the policy, when police come across people who are using or possessing drugs, they confiscate their substances and refer them to a Dissuasion Commission. This Commission is comprised of one official from the legal arena and two from the health or social service arenas who determine whether and to what extent the person demonstrates dependency on drugs.”

“These Commissions – which operate independently from the criminal justice system – make decisions on a case-by-case basis. If the committee believes the person’s use of drugs is not a problem, they can simply dismiss the case and the application of sanctions altogether. Alternatively, they can impose administrative sanctions that range from fines to social work or group therapy. The majority of people who appear before the Commissions are deemed to be using drugs non-problematically and receive no sanction or intervention, but rather a provisional suspension of the proceedings. If they are not found in the possession of drugs again within six months, the matter is completely dropped. For people who appear to use drugs frequently and problematically, the Commissions will make referrals to treatment, which is always voluntary and never mandated. If people with substance use disorder opt not to enter treatment, administrative sanctions – such as the revocation of a driving license or community service – can be applied, but rarely are.”

So by abandoning the ineffective (or even harmful) harm reduction policies as the main focus, we can direct drug users and the mentally ill off the streets and into treatment facilities. We can then hope to reverse this troubling trend of increased drug use, overdoses and crime in our communities.