In the House of Commons yesterday, Riding Mountain MP Dan Mazier introduced Bill C-272: An Act to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (supervised drug consumption sites) for it's first reading.
Mazier said the Liberal government's handling of drugs in Canada has been a failure.
"The whole intention of the bill is to remove drug consumption and drugs away from children...we could've moved towards shutting these sites right down, we could've been a little bit more aggressive, but I think we're at a place where we know the failed drug experiment, this is not working. Drug consumption sites, we're seeing mayhem and terrible things happening around these sites, they're like drug magnets for crime, everything else that's going around, and this is no place for a child," said Mazier.
Bill C-272 proposes changes to the Controlled Drugs and Substances act, specifically to forbid any sort of supervised consumption site from operating within 500 metres of any elementary schools, secondary schools, daycares, or playgrounds. Specifics of Bill C-272's first reading can be found here.
As the Shadow Minister for Health, Mazier said Health Minister Marjorie Michel's handling of Canada's drug crisis has not been good.
"She's refused to shut down these sites. She's aware of them, that these sites are around children, but yet she refuses to shut them down. I gave her the roadmap, so hopefully she can take advantage of it...in Winnipeg there's been the Point Douglas consumption site, that mobile site, this act would eliminate those kind of sites being operated around children. Right now that site, the way it operates, there is no allocation for how far they are away from schools, daycares, or playgrounds, and there is no allocation for age," said Mazier.
Mazier said Bill C-272 was made with the results of a recent peer-reviewed study in mind, detailing the results of the closure of the Red Deer Overdose Prevention Site in comparison to the Lethbridge Overdose Prevention Site, which remained open. Mazier said that after the Red Deer site was closed, treatment and recovery numbers in the area went up. The full study can be found here.
"This is an opportunity, we as Conservatives, we're the only part actually standing up and saying treatment and recovery is the way to go in these sites, with this new data, it will definitely go a long way in changing all governments and all communities' approaches at how we treat addiction," said Mazier.
Though there aren't any supervised consumption sites within the Riding Mountain federal riding, Mazier said this bill helps lay the ground work for if there ever is one.
"Yes they could happen, but if the Liberals have a change of heart, we could stop these sites, at least next to kids...all I'm asking is for those kind of sites to be not operating around children, and I don't know who would want them to be operating around children, but I'd be open to that discussion because I don't think they should be personally, and we're the only party that's actually standing up for children and families," said Mazier.
Mazier has long been a critic of supervised consumption sites, and as the Shadow Minister of Health, hopes he can keep children away from these sites.
