Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says his government will handle illicit drug use with recovery and enforcement, not enablement and that a new provincial marshal program would help with that effort.The premier made his comments in Regina at the annual gathering of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM).“When it comes to drugs, it's not going to be our focus to provide an environment that makes using drugs easier. There is no such thing as a safe use of illicit drugs. We need to instead focus all of our resources and all of our opportunities on providing recovery, or recovery-oriented system of care (ROSC).”Moe said the first plank of the approach was to have capacity. After reaching its initial goal of 150 recovery beds across the province, it set a new goal of 500. Moe said this higher goal would soon be reached “and we're likely going to have to go beyond.”The second plank was to meet people where they are at and bring them either a recovery bed or mental health support in short order. A new emergency recovery shelter will soon open in Saskatoon and another in Regina as part of that effort. The Regina shelter will provide up to 15 people in crisis with a safe place to stabilize while being monitored by health-care professionals for up to 24 hours for the negative effects of alcohol or drugs.“We're going to take them by the hand to ensure that they have the services and the support that they need, or those that may unfortunately have entered the life of addictions and are choosing to make a change. We are building the capacity so that when they want to make that change, we have a recovery bed that is available,” Moe said.Moe said the focus on recovery meant that the Saskatchewan Health Authority would no longer hand out “crack pipes” or “bagfulls of needles. We're providing recovery opportunities for our family and friends.” The premier said his approach jived with the comments Dr. Carson McPherson, a leader in the design, implementation, and delivery of addiction treatment programs across Canada. McPherson said, “There's a very fine line between harm reduction and allowing one to facilitate harms to oneself.”Moe said, "We do not want to facilitate harm, we want to facilitate opportunities for recovery to those who are struggling with addictions.”Moe said violence and property crime followed in the wake of the drug trade. He credited the RCMP for their efforts against this and promised they would receive more funding in next week's budget as a “parallel effort” to handling drug issues.“We also need to forcibly remove drugs in our communities. And then we need to remove the drug dealers from our communities,” Moe said.“We've expanded policing coverage by also coordinating the chain of command with the provincial enforcement agencies. Our highway patrol and our conservation officers are now fully under the provincial protective services branch,” Moe said.Moe promised that the highway patrol marshals would be “up and operating” by 2026 to support police and enforcement agencies in rural areas. Former Mountie Robert Cameron, who launched the Saskatchewan Provincial Protective Services Branch, was appointed the first chief marshal on January 1. The agency is expected to have 70 officers.The premier pointed out that federal efforts to restrict the legal possession and use of firearms or “taking rifles from law-abiding citizens” would face continued resistance by his government.“Firearms are very much a way of life in many areas of this province,” Moe said.Moe said their September 27, 2021 appointment of Robert Freberg as the province's first chief firearms officer had gone well. “He is very interested innovatively in finding new ways to protect our rights to the legal protection requirements," Moe said."A balance needs to be found when it comes to protecting our communities, protecting our boundaries, protecting the public, without infringing on the rights that we have.”Watch Premier Moe's address starting at the 4:24:55 mark.
