New Brunswick’s premier says his government will not approve any new supervised injection sites if re-elected.
Blaine Higgs made the comments during a speech to the Saint John Region Chamber of Commerce on Monday.
“I was truly surprised to see Liberal Leader Susan Holt announce that she would completely oppose this legislation – without even seeing the details,” said Higgs.
“Since then she has elaborated on social media that she believes in “safe supply” and supervised injection sites.”
The Progressive Conservative leader said there is no such thing as a “safe” supply of drugs.
Higgs added that they would also launch consultations with local governments and community members about existing sites “and what impact they are having in their communities.”
Ensemble Moncton currently has the only safe injection site in the province.
“We will focus on recovery and treating addiction,” said Higgs, who also reiterated his plan to bring forward legislation that could see some drug users forced into treatment.
The Higgs government had planned to introduce the Compassionate Intervention Act in the legislature this past spring but later announced that more time was needed to develop the legislation
“We are going to be focusing on a recovery model to treat addictions and start investing more in treatment facilities. These individuals will be offered treatment for their addiction,” said the premier.
“Hopefully this treatment option would be voluntarily accepted. But if not, then there will be legal processes put in place to keep them off the street and placed into treatment.
“We care about people too much to leave them on the street, ravaged with addiction.”
