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APRIL 26, 2019 | Volume 32 No. 34
IT’S BOOGIE TIME!
FRIDAY
The 21st annual Boogie the Bridge takes place this Sunday, with a new location and routes that cross the North Shore and Westsyde. B5-B8
ON STAGE Valleyview secondary presents Cinderella B3
Page B2 is your guide to myriad events in the city and region
WEEKEND WEATHER:
TOURNEY CAP? Kamloops behind Kelowna in national sports index A35
Sun, clouds and showers High 17 C Low 2 C
Call to decriminalize drug possession, use KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK
THE AMAZING RACE COMES TO KAMLOOPS
The Amazing Race Canada contestants sped through Kamloops on Wednesday, just a day after filming of the season began in Toronto. The popular show pits 10 teams of two against each other in a race across Canada and beyond, with the team crossing the finish line after many weeks on the road winning $500,000 in cash and prizes. The race is divided into a series of legs and on each leg, teams compete to reach the Pit Stop, where they are greeted by host Jon Montgomery. The last team to reach the host in each leg is usually eliminated. The 10 teams jumped off a plane at Kamloops Airport on Wednesday morning and jumped into waiting vehicles. From the airport, they raced across the city, camera operators in tow, using clues to try to find locations where they were met with challenges. One team was stopped by a Kamloops Mountie while speeding up the Summit Connector toward Aberdeen. The Amazing Race Canada will air this summer, at a yet-to-be-determined date, on CTV. More photos are on page A18 and online at kamloopsthisweek.com. DAVE EAGLES PHOTOS/KTW
Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer, has released her report, Stopping the Harm: Decriminalization of People Who Use Drugs in BC, as part of an effort to mitigate the provincial overdose crisis. The report looks at how the decriminalization of possession and use of illegal drugs for personal use could help turn the tide on the overdose crisis, which was declared a public health emergency three years ago. Henry is urging the provincial government to consider decriminalization, which means possession of illegal drugs for personal use would not lead to incarceration or a criminal record. “Experts, including people with lived experience, agree that our existing drug laws are further stigmatizing people living with addiction, a chronic, relapsing health condition,” Henry said. “The decriminalization of people who are in possession of drugs for personal use is the next logical and responsible step we must take to keep people alive and connect them to the health and social supports they need.” The report outlines how stigma leads many people who use drugs to hide their usage and creates barriers to using harm-reduction and treatment services.
Henry said prohibition-based drug policies and strategies are significant contributors to the “deeprooted shame and blame associated with illegal drug use.” She said evidence shows that criminalizing people who use drugs does more harm than good, noting decriminalization is a way for law enforcement to help people living with addiction connect to the supports they need. “We are scaling up evidencebased treatment and recovery services like opioid agonist treatment, harm-reduction measures and the provision of a safer drug supply,” Henry said. “But we need to do more. We need to decriminalize people in possession of controlled substances for personal use so that we can protect them from the highly-toxic street drug supply and curtail the mounting number of preventable overdose deaths in B.C.” In response to Henry’s report, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth said he doesn’t believe a single province could “go it alone” when it comes to decriminalization, as was the case with the legalization of cannabis. “Possessing these substances is still illegal under federal law. No provincial action can change that,” Farnworth told reporters during a press conference on Wednesday. See POLICE CHIEF, A6
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