Police Commissioner Asks Why Drug Users Are Not Being Arrested
Police Commissioner Clive Tolley asks the question stating in the past it was used as a means to get illicit drug users help
By Robert Thomas
Why are there so few drug charges?
And why aren’t the police arresting illicit drug users?
Both were questions put forward by Commissioner Mayor Clive Tolley during the Moose Jaw Board Of Police Commissioners monthly meeting on Tuesday afternoon.
Commissioner Tolley said he was asking the questions because people in the community had been asking him why the Moose Jaw Police Service (MJPS) was not simply arresting drug users and addicts.
The arrests were used in the past to funnel drug users and addicts into treatment he said.
“There was some drug enforcement in the past” Commissioner Tolley said but the number of drug arrests in 2022 were low.
According to the statistical abstract in 2022 there were 37 drug arrests whereas there were 72 drug arrests in 2021.
Arresting drug users in the past was used to get people into treatment Commissioner Tolley said citing his years working as a social work for the provincial government.
“Part of the reason we incarcerated people was to send them away from their (illicit drug) sources, to get them into treatment,” he said, adding “its not a bad strategy to get them away from their source (of illicit drugs or drug dealer).”
Members of the Moose Jaw Board Of Police Commissioners at their Tuesday afternoon meeting - MJ Independent photo
Commissioner Tolley wondered if the drop in arresting drug users was due to the jails being full.
“Are the jails too full that we have to go after distributors?” Tolley asked.
It needs to be noted at the present time the majority of prisoners in the provincial correctional system are people on remand and there have been ongoing concerns about overcrowding.
The Province is presently constructing a $120 million remand facility in Saskatoon designed to hold 400 prisoners.
MJPS Chief Rick Bourassa said the majority of drug charges laid are when someone is arrested for something other than drugs and then drugs are found by police in a subsequent search.
If the person needs help Chief Bourassa said the police “try to get people to support.”
People charged with simple drug possession are usually not given a custodial sentence but “most often it is with an appearance notice” in court and the accused is released.
Commissioner Tolley said the talk on the street was at the present time Moose Jaw had a drug “epidemic going on but it’s low in terms of charges.”
Commissioner Tolley said he was asking the questions because numerous people were asking why drug users are not being arrested and he was trying to understand so he could explain why there were a low number of arrests.
“We can see clearly there are people on the street using drugs.”
Chief Bourassa said the police cannot simply search and arrest people because they have rights.
“Unless we are detaining somebody for another charge we don’t have the right to search people,” he said.
“You have to have grounds…although we know there are users we often don’t have significant grounds.”
Commissioner Mary Lee Booth said there were moves towards harm reduction.
Harm reduction is where drug users are directed towards services designed to reduce the impact of illicit drugs on their lives.
The hope is harm reduction will lead to a drug user to treatment and recovery.
Commissioner Booth said Saskatchewan Health Authority was preparing an education program in harm reduction for the public.
She said the discussion at the Polixe Commission was useful.