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Chatham

Chatham-Kent council approves motion to seek decriminalization of simple drug possession

A motion to endorse decriminalizing the simple possession of illicit drugs was passed by Chatham-Kent council on Monday night.

Councillor Brock McGregor brought forward the motion requesting a letter be sent to the federal and provincial government, outlining the endorsement and current situation in Chatham-Kent, on behalf of the council.

"As much as we work tirelessly locally, it's hard to ignore that we are caught in a national and regional pattern of increased opioid use," said McGregor. "While we look at the things we can do locally, it's also important to recognize that we should be vocal about things that can be done by other levels of government."

In a presentation to the council, Chatham-Kent Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Colby said overdoses are one of the biggest causes of death in Chatham-Kent.

"Taking this out of the shadows of criminality and transforming it into a medical problem that needs to be managed in an appropriate manner is crucial to dealing with this," Colby said.

According to the presentation, the rate of emergency room visits and opioid-related deaths are greater than they have ever been.

The local rate of opioid-related emergency visits increased more than 280 per cent from 2016 to 2020. The number of opioid-related deaths also increased by 400 per cent over the four-year period.

"We are in an opioid crisis and anything that you can do as councillors to further this agenda [recognize the opioid crisis as a medical problem] would be very beneficial to our community and very beneficial to our society at large," said Colby.

The majority of council members expressed support for the motion, including Councillor Karen Kirkwood-Whyte, who said she was happy to move forward in addressing the issue.

"There is widespread recognition that this is the second pandemic and that we need to prioritize this issue as a major public health activity as soon as we possibly we can," said Colby.

If the federal government approves a policy to decriminalize the possession of drugs for personal use, the next step would involve determining how the policy would be implemented.

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