Regina police outline 3 options for decriminalizing drugs
The road to decriminalizing drugs in Regina is being paved.
On Tuesday, the Board of Police Commissioners met to discuss the possibility of decriminalizing personal illicit drug possession in the city of Regina.
In August 2021, a motion was passed asking the Regina Police Service (RPS) to look into what the impacts of decriminalizing drug possession would have in Regina, and if it would be feasible to facilitate.
In response, the RPS worked alongside the Saskatoon Police Service and Barbara Fornssler, a professor at the University of Saskatchewan, to see what options could be available for Regina.
Fornssler presented a report outlining three potential options on Tuesday:
- Status quo: choose not to explore decriminalization and see if changes in overdose deaths, incarceration rates, etc., change
- De facto decriminalization: law enforcement officers would refrain from imposing criminal charges to those possessing personal amounts of a substance.
- De jure decriminalization: simple drug possession is decriminalized.
Fornssler’s research suggests that if people are not threatened by criminal charges, they are more likely to seek help, especially when it comes to substance abuse.
Decriminalizing possession of personal amounts of drugs is not turning a blind eye to illicit drugs, the meeting notes stated, but ensuring those people who possess them are not threatened by being arrested.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.