The City of Kamloops is on the verge of bringing in sweeping restrictions on open drug use across the city.

Kamloops council has voted 8-1 to give first, second, and third reading to a bylaw amendment which will ban illicit drug use on any city sidewalks.

It would also restrict open drug use – or display – within 100-meters of public parks, playgrounds, beaches and any municipal building which has public access.

This is how the bylaw changes read, according to the City of Kamloops:

The proposed amendments would, among other things, prohibit the display or use of a Controlled Substance on any “Sidewalk” or within 100 metres of a “Designated Area”, which is defined to include all:

(a) Public parks, playgrounds, urban forests, and beaches;

(b) Swimming pools, water playgrounds, and wading pools; and

(c) Real property and improvements owned or held by the City and reserved by it for the use, recreation, or enjoyment of the public, including, without limitation, all community centres, recreation centres, public libraries, art galleries, museums, arenas, and exhibition buildings, together with all driveways, roadways, parking lots, paths, and lanes within or appurtenant or connected to any of the areas or facilities listed in (a) through (c) above.

Acting community services manager, Will Beatty, told council the bylaw won’t apply to supervised consumption or overdose provision sites operated by Interior Health or other government authorities.

“This allows for the consumption at supervised consumption sites that are located within 100 metres of the designated areas,” Beatty said. “Contraventions of the bylaw allow for relocation to comply with the bylaw by CSOs or police, and can also result in a fine.”

Councillor Katie Neustaeter, who originally brought the concept forward, notes the number of illicit toxic drug deaths in Kamloops and around the province continue to rise, despite decriminalization.

“We cannot stomach it any longer. The approaches that are being used are not working,” argued Neustaeter at the council session on Tuesday. “When I first tabled this motion, it was with the framing that this should force next steps. That is what we are trying to do here.”

Neustaeter’s initial motion – which saw push back from Interior Health Medical Health Officer, Dr. Carol Fenton – was repealed in May and replaced with the current proposal, one which city staff said had “a narrower or more reasonable scope.”

Councillor Mike O’Reilly argues it is the provincial government which has put the City of Kamloops in this position.

“The fact that our provincial government has put the ‘cart before the horse,’ the fact that they can’t provide safe consumption sites…enough of them, the fact that they can’t keep up with the way people consume, including inhalation, they way that they can not keep up with the mental health care that people not only need, but that people want, and they can’t do it,” contends O’Reilly.

“The fact that they can’t do those things and live up to their expectations, we’re the ones that are dealing with the outfall from that.”

The lone dissenting voice in the debate was councillor Nancy Bepple.

“I’m not convinced that the bylaw that we’re putting forward that says that they can go to a supervised consumption site, and therefore they have a place to use drugs, is sufficient,” argued Bepple.

Councillor Dale Bass, who voted against past motions to ban public drug use, voted for the ban, with a caveat.

“When we make all these changes, it would be really nice and helpful if [Interior Health] supervised consumption site did not just work Monday to Friday 8:30 to 5 o’clock,” she said. “So I’m going to support this because IH is going to have a role in this.”

“It bothers me that IH seeks that health issues, except at the ER department, are Monday to Friday 9 to 5ers, and so that would be what I’ll be pushing for.”

While Kamloops council has given tacit approval to the new bylaw, it will still require a fourth and final reading under municipal rules before it can be enforced.

It’s not clear when that might happen, as the City is anticipating push back as the B.C. government prepares its own legislation for the fall sitting.

“We were going a little bit softer earlier, saying we don’t want to really push back, it’s going to go to the courts. I’m saying hell, let’s get it to the courts,” Councillor Bill Sarai said prior to the vote.

“The more we push back, the more attention I hope the government gets that what they are doing is not working.”