St. John's community centre sees surge in discarded needles as drug prosecutions drop

ST. JOHN'S · Staff at a St. John's community centre are making daily sweeps to collect used needles from areas where children play. Enid Pendergast, executive director of the Froude Avenue Community Centre, says the last three years have seen an extreme rise in discarded drug paraphernalia around the area. Social media posts frequently show photos of open drug use and needles littering public parks and benches. Records show more than 1,000 calls were made to the city's 311 hotline about needles and open consumption over the past two years, a dramatic jump from 181 reports in 2016.

This apparent increase in public drug use coincides with a national decline in federal prosecutions for simple possession. Statistics Canada data shows prosecutors are handling fewer such cases than ever before, with Newfoundland and Labrador seeing an overall 10-year decline. Police officials and experts link this drop to a 2020 policy change by the Public Prosecution Service of Canada. The PPSC directive tells prosecutors to avoid laying criminal charges for drug possession and to prioritize health alternatives instead.

"In the last three years we definitely had an extreme uprise [of] even more of the drug paraphernalia being seen around the area," said Pendergast. She speculates the centre's location near main roads makes it a hideaway where people use drugs and leave items behind. The situation has forced operational changes, including fencing the backyard to prevent drug use on the premises. Children in afterschool programs are no longer allowed to walk alone from nearby schools, a rule implemented after kids reported seeing someone using drugs on a pathway.

READ MORE: Toronto's Thanksgiving Monday sees closures, transit changes and open attractions

READ MORE: Etihad Airways launches first direct flights between Abu Dhabi and Calgary

Pendergast says the attitudes of people using drugs openly have shifted, making her more cautious about approaching them. She recalls that in past years, individuals would readily put things away if asked, often because they did not want children to see. Now, she would not ask anyone to move or put items away because the response is not the same. She encounters similar problems on field trips to other city parks and struggles to balance child safety with understanding the complex issues of addiction.

The 2020 PPSC guidelines state that criminal sanctions are a limited deterrent and that the harmful effects of criminal records outweigh their public safety benefit. The policy is not full decriminalization but sets a higher bar for prosecution, reserving it for cases posing serious public safety risks. The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police also views substance use as a health issue. The association withdrew its support for B.C.'s decriminalization pilot, arguing it lacked proper guardrails around public consumption.

In St. John's, Royal Newfoundland Constabulary Insp. Ryan Pittman states the police force's position is that drug possession remains a criminal offence. However, he explains that gathering sufficient evidence for court is not straightforward. “When we're dealing with these situations we actually have to see the person consume a drug or be in possession of a drug," Pittman said. He notes this is hard to justify without a statement from a witness, who often wishes to remain anonymous.

With files from CBC News