A drug user heating up a meth pipe.

(DAN WALTON / iNFOnews.ca)

Kelowna RCMP officers will be suggesting rehab instead of pressing charges when they catch people with less than 2.5 gram of heavy drugs.

Beginning Jan. 31, police will no longer be allowed to seize crack, fentanyl, ecstasy and meth from the public, so long as it’s below the threshold of 2.5 grams.

Const. Mike Della-Paolera said officers have been given rehab referral cards to hand out to people who are found to be in possession.

“I’m gonna hand you a card saying, 'hey if you wanna go to rehab here’s a phone number,'” he said.

Della-Paolera doubts the referral cards will be effective – he said most users aren’t going to care for advice from a cop, and the few who do will be faced with the same months-long waitlist as everyone else seeking treatment.

“The problem is, help isn’t available.”

Also, even before decriminalization was announced, enforcing against personal amount of drugs has not been a priority for local RCMP officers. He said charges of possession are normally only applied to people who are believed to have committed more serious crimes.

“We'll charge someone who’s robbing a bank or assaulting someone – if we’re going to put in a criminal charge for something, and you have drugs on you – we’re doing the paperwork anyway.”

Currently, anyone caught with small amounts of drugs normally just has their stash taken by police, he said, and no further action is taken.

Della-Paolera doesn’t like how much responsibility the province is imposing upon municipalities over the matter.

“The way it’s written, you can sit in a city park and shoot fentanyl or do lines of cocaine, as long as it’s under 2.5 grams.”

However it will remain illegal to possess heavy drugs on public school properties and airport. 

The exemption will remain in effect until Jan. 31, 2026

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