Police Say This Vancouver Councillor Wasn't Charged For Handing Out Heroin & Here's Why

A Vancouver councillor was not charged after handing out heroin on the street as part of her advocacy for safe drug use.

The councillor, Jean Swanson, posted a photo on Twitter in July at an event by the organization Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users and the Drug User Liberation Front.

According to a report to the Vancouver Police Board, "the drugs were not distributed for profit but were instead intended as harm reduction and safe supply measures."

It added: "A member of the public complained to the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPCC) regarding the Vancouver Police Department's (VPD) response, which resulted in this service or policy complaint."

The report said that during the protest the police took no action to arrest.

According to the report, the member of the public who complained stated: "The police knew about what was going on but didn't feel the need to arrest her" and "since when have our laws been discretionary?"

The report also said, "While the VPD does not condone drug trafficking and, in fact, does arrest for drug trafficking, it is recognized that the actions of the other protesters were not motivated by profit and were not the actions of organized crime groups, but rather, were grounded in harm reduction and raising awareness to the need for urgent action to the overdose crisis."

Despite this councillor not being arrested or charged, the report says that it doesn't mean others won't "in future similar incidents."