The City Councillor behind the push to restrict open drug use in Kamloops says she is “encouraged” by the new legislation which was tabled by the provincial government this week.

But Katie Neustaeter also says the new legislation from the provincial government doesn’t necessarily mean that the Kamloops bylaw – which is on the books – is going to be shelved or rolled back.

“We will figure out whether our local bylaw is still necessary and needed,” Neustaeter said, on NL Newsday. “Does it still support the next steps that we are looking for like peace officer status for CSOs? So we’ll explore that as we go but we are in a good place.”

“Is there still a local bylaw needed if we do have peace officer status? Will that support CSOs in supplementing or having the power to create those community of care solutions?”

The NDP legislation introduced yesterday bans open drug use within six-meters of building entrances and bus stops, and 15-meters from playgrounds, spray parks and skate parks. It also bans the outright use of illegal drugs in parks, beaches and sports fields.

“Local governments, police, and some members of the public have expressed increasing concerns about public drug use,” Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said Thursday.

“The legislation introduced today will respond to these concerns by restricting public use similar in may respects to what is in place for smoking, alcohol, and cannabis.”

The Kamloops bylaws go much further, banning open drug use within 100-metres of parks, playgrounds, beaches, public municipal buildings, as well as on all city sidewalks.

In announcing the new legislation Thursday, Premier David Eby says local governments – like Kamloops – are free to bring in their own bylaws.

However, Eby said the proposed new provincial law does require that municipalities get their local health authority to sign-off on their “tougher” bylaws.

“It does require them to engage with their public health officer, with medical health officers in advance to understand the implications of any decision that they make in this regard,” Eby said. “We want to make sure that it is an informed decision.”

“The new law creates an avenue for municipalities to add to or change aspects of the application of this law.”

Eby also said that the new provincial rules are not a “walk-back” of the three-year drug decriminalization pilot. The personal possession of small amounts of illegal drugs is still permitted in “certain areas” of the province as part of the pilot which got underway on Jan. 31.

“When I saw municipal leaders coming forward requesting assistance from the province, including in some cases requesting authority or clarifying authority to pass their own bylaws, I made the commitment in the House in the last session that we would work with those local leaders,” Eby said.

The initial move by Kamloops council to consider banning the public use of drugs – which was later scaled back a bit – did get significant push-back from Interior Health.

“Things like bylaws can actually impact people who don’t have a lot of money or people who are unhoused, really severely,” Medical Health Officer Dr. Carol Fenton said in April, suggesting that city council should instead be looking at expanding existing programs like more safe consumption sites.

“What I see is city council is talking about what I would call a ‘big hammer,’” Fenton added. “A bylaw is a fairly restrictive intervention. Let’s start with understanding the problem; why are we seeing unwanted behavior? We are seeing it, let’s understand where that is coming from.”

“They cannot afford to pay a fine for example, and they can often end up in jail.”

The City and Interior Health are now meeting and working together to sort through their respective concerns.

Neustaeter suggests that the work done by Kamloops council up to this point has – in part – done its job.

“It isn’t every day that municipalities create local bylaws in order to force the hand at a provincial level and to be heard,” Neustaeter said. “So we’re kind of exploring this live as we go. Very interested to have these conversations with my colleagues and see what they think.”

– With files from Paul James