Two people who believe in the decriminalization of drug possession for personal use spoke to the Saskatoon Board of Police Commissioners on Thursday, and both believe arresting someone is not the way to fix addiction issues.
The Saskatchewan spokesperson for Moms Stop The Harm, Marie Agioritis, says her son Kelly died in 2015 from Fentanyl poisoning.
Marie Agioritis believes that people going to jail because of a small amount of drugs while the large drug operations remain free is the wrong way to fix things.
She adds that charging someone for drug possession affects their ability to get a job, obtain credit and in some cases qualify for housing, and does little to change the drug user’s habits.
Jason Mercredi, the Executive Director of Prairie Harm Reduction, a safe injection site in Saskatoon, told the Board the current approach to address addictions in Canada has been a historical failure.
He quoted Saskatoon’s former Chief of Police, Clive Weighill, who said, “We are not going to arrest our way out of this problem.”
Agioritis and Mercredi want the Board and the City to become part of the discussion to support the initiative towards decriminalization.