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FRIDAY, August 31, 2018
www.kamloopsthisweek.com
OPINION
Kamloops This Week is a politically independent newspaper, published Wednesdays and Fridays at 1365-B Dalhousie Dr., Kamloops, B.C., V2C 5P6 Phone: 250-374-7467 | Fax: 250-374-1033 email: editor@kamloopsthisweek.com
Robert W. Doull President Aberdeen Publishing Inc. Tim Shoults Operations manager Aberdeen Publishing Inc.
STAYING AWARE OF OVERDOSE CRISIS
O
n Aug. 31, anyone affected by the opioid crisis, from users and their families to first responders and other service providers, will take time to remember those lost or who have had their lives forever changed by the use of illicit drugs. Aug. 31 is International Overdose Awareness Day and is marked in various communities with Naloxone training sessions, rallies and candlelight vigils of remembrance. Where some people may feel a distance from its devastating effects, not knowing anybody who has been impacted by addiction, the day is designed to educate about the depth of the crisis and illustrate just how close to home it can strike. In April 2016, the provincial government looked at the staggering number of overdose deaths and declared a public health emergency. Since then, fentanyl and other substances have led to overdoses across Canada, throughout the United States and around the world. Parents, siblings and friends in Kamloops and elsewhere have either lost loved ones to overdoses or watched them fight back from a near-death experience. There is no event in Kamloops to mark the day, but as KTW’s Dale Bass detailed in her column this week, you can still take action. Local members of Moms Against the Harm have created a purple campaign that gives everyone a way to make a statement without having to gather somewhere. They are asking that people wear an awareness ribbon or wristband and use the social-media hashtags #OverdoseAware, #EndOverdose or #PurpleRibbon. Purple and silver are the colours associated with International Overdose Awareness Day. You can also help fund their goal of installing a memorial bench in Riverside Park. Go online to gofundme.com and search for Somebody’s Someone Memorial Bench.
OUR
VIEW
Robert W. Doull President Aberdeen Publishing Inc. EDITORIAL Publisher: Robert W. Doull Editor: Christopher Foulds Associate editor: Dale Bass Newsroom staff: Dave Eagles Tim Petruk Marty Hastings Jessica Wallace Sean Brady Michael Potestio SALES STAFF: Don Levasseur Linda Skelly Kate Potter Jodi Lawrence Darlene Kawa Liz Spivey
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Gouging is gauche
I
n the sunset of her career in civic politics, Tina Lange has done her job in shining much-needed light on the cannabis issue in Kamloops. Since she is not seeking reelection, Lange’s time on city council will end in a few weeks, when voters go to the polls to elect a new council. Lange has been right on the mark with her stance on how the city should be dealing with the pending legalization of recreational marijuana. The veteran city councillor was the lone voice of reason when she correctly labelled the proposed $5,000 business licence fee for marijuana shops as “gouging” by the city. Lange was again on point this past Tuesday night while at the public hearing that confirmed the gouging will be law. Last December, a public hearing on other aspects of legal marijuana — including where in the city such businesses can operate and how far from each other they must be — attracted a number of speakers. This week’s public hearing on the outlandish business licence fee elicited one response from the public — and the presenter was not a potential cannabis entrepreneur. The dearth of dialogue on the issue led Coun. Arjun Singh to suggest putative pot purveyors were at peace with having to pay $5,000 per year — or 25 times the amount liquor store owners pay. Once again, it fell to Lange to suggest a more plausible reason for no comments from those seeking
CHRISTOPHER FOULDS Newsroom
MUSINGS to sell legal weed in Kamloops: she mused that it might be the result of said entrepreneurs being afraid to come forward and debate the fee out of fear council “may not like them as much when they came to open up their store.” However, even if Singh is correct and those fledgling green thumb free-enterprisers have accepted the $5,000 business licence fee, it doesn’t make it right. And to vote in favour of such an exorbitant fee, all the while cognizant of the fact agents of alcohol pay a relative pittance for the right to sell a product that does far more damage — socially and economically — defies common sense. Aside from hypothetical bureaucratic costs to the city, alcohol is in a league of its own when examining the cost to society. In June, the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction and the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research released a report on the cost of substance abuse in the country. It found the four substances related to the largest costs are alcohol at $14.6 billion, tobacco at $12
billion, opioids at $3.5 billion and marijuana at $2.8 billion. Note those numbers show alcohol is more costly and creates more misery than all other drugs combined. Locally, it has been repeated ad nauseam that municipalities like Kamloops may face legal marijuana-related costs connected to policing, zoning and social services. I don’t recall ever hearing local politicians and staff members raising this issue when dealing with a pub or liquor store application. There should actually be less policing costs once recreational marijuana is legalized on Oct. 17, as it then becomes a regulated legal substance, much like alcohol and tobacco. How much time do Mounties spend focusing on the day-to-day operations of liquor stores? How do zoning costs factor into the equation? Are rezoning applications not part of the work done by salaried employees? Should education about legalized pot not rest with the provincial and federal governments, as it does now with other substances? There was, however, a sliver of optimism that emerged from this week’s public hearing. It seemed as though Lange’s concerns were heard in that Mayor Ken Christian suggested the $5,000 fee may be temporary. “This is, at best, a placeholder and, just like any of our bylaws, they can be reviewed by us or a future council,” Christian said. Let’s hope so, because parity between cannabis and alcohol should be the minimum goal. editor@kamloopsthisweek.com Twitter: @ChrisJFoulds