‘A lawlessness downtown’: Barrie mayor outlines his plan of enforcement and outreach to combat drugs and crime

Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall says a combination of both enforcement and outreach is the key to combatting the city’s drug problem.

Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall says a combination of both enforcement and outreach is the key to combatting the city’s drug and crime problem.

He describes the city’s core as “a lawlessness downtown.”

“When drugs are allowed to be used without trouble being given, without any sort of charges being given, without them being removed all together, that is a state of lawlessness,” Nuttall says in an interview with CTV News.

“I think it’s really important when we’re talking about these items that are hurting our city, that we confront them, name them and take them head on instead of trying to hide them over time.”

His plan moving forward is to introduce a program that he says will help people who use drugs, but also restore the downtown.

Nuttall makes it clear he wants to make sure the drugs – and the people using the drugs – are off the streets.

The answer, he says, is putting in place both outreach, to get people the help who need it most, in combination with police enforcement.

“If somebody is smoking crack or doing some form of fentanyl or heroine or whatever they’re doing, that we have a police service out to lay charges in those circumstances and hopefully transition those people into a program that will help them get off of those types of addictions and drugs. It’s also important that we have the necessary outreach out there to offer the help and support to get into rehabilitation.”

Nuttall also taking aim at anyone who operates an illegal drug dispensary.

“We are going to shut down illegal drug dispensaries in the city of Barrie. If you run a mushroom shop, we are going to find a way to shut you down. If you run an illegal and unlicensed marijuana shop, we are coming for your store front.”

Not only will authorities be targeting the operations, but also the building owners who are renting out to these types of stores.

To allow for this blitz of shutting down illegal drug dispensaries, Nuttall says in the next month, zoning bylaws will change.

The enforcement doesn’t stop at the police, according to Nuttall. He says justice has to continue through the courts.

He spoke to examples when officials shut down mushroom shops last year using police raids. He says everyone involved got conditional discharges, meaning no real penalty for drug dealers after they were arrested.

“We need judges to actually deliver strong judgements,” he says.

As for the state of emergency, he says that’s not being lifted any time soon.

“With the nicer weather, folks are coming back from other parts of the country, the province, into the city of Barrie and we need to make sure we don’t allow the proliferation of encampments, of homelessness, or any of these other things,” Nuttall says.