Drug problem 'seems to be magnified for some reason' in Regina, police chief says

The provincial opioid epidemic has claimed the lives of hundreds of people in the province this year, including 19 deaths recorded in Regina in November alone.

The city's chief of police says drugs are a huge problem in the Queen City. 

"There's no question about it. And we're seeing this problem, it's across Canada, it's certainly throughout our province," Regina police Chief Evan Bray said in a Wednesday interview with CBC Radio's Blue Sky.

"In Regina, I don't know. It seems to be magnified for some reason." 

Bray said there have been well over 1,000 reported overdose occurrences so far this year, which means the city's emergency services are responding to three to four calls a day. 

The city has seen 97 deaths from apparent overdoses this year, he said. In 2019, Regina had 16 reported deaths from apparent overdoses. 

Bray said the opioid problem in the city needs immediate action, and a long-term strategy to be properly addressed.

He said he's a "big fan" of harm reduction measures, and suggested a supervised consumption site may be part of the  solution to the issue.

He said he's heard both sides of the debate around safe consumption sites. He says a doctor he spoke with in Regina told him more overdoses happen in homes than on the streets, where safe consumption sites can make real differences. 

"That being said, having people present [who] are consuming illicit, illegal, dangerous drugs, and having people present from a health-care perspective to ensure that something tragic doesn't happen to them, that's not a bad thing."

Bray said he wants to see strategies come into effect that lead to generational change, which he knows will involve a harm reduction strategy. 

Police 'not the fix': chief

Officers can't arrest their way out of the drug epidemic, Bray said — a point he's noted before — but he said the city's police service will continue to focus on enforcing laws around the importation and trafficking of drugs.  

"Police can be a means to an end but oftentimes we're used as leverage, because we're not the fix," Bray said.  "Handcuffs are not the solution."

Arresting a person may not be the answer to their addiction issues, but it creates an opportunity to get them in front of someone who may have more answers to their problems, Bray said, and creates a "forced break" from the drug. 

He also suggested police officers could play a role in formulating a harm reduction strategy.

Some may be surprised, he said, to hear police say things like "handcuffs and arresting people is not the solution, we need a more holistic approach to dealing with these addictions," said Bray.

"But you're hearing the police across Canada say that loudly. At the end of the day, we have to find a way to help people through this."