October 29,2025
RED FM News Desk
B.C. Conservatives are expressing outrage after the provincial government voted down their private member’s bill that sought to make anti-drug education mandatory in schools.
“They were wrong and they made the wrong choice,” said B.C. Conservative MLA Steve Kooner on Tuesday (Oct. 28), a day after the bill was defeated. “It made sense to support a bill that actually fights drugs and drug use.”
However, Education Minister Lisa Beare, along with unions and advocacy groups, argued that the bill would promote stigma against drug users and discourage students from seeking help. Beare issued a joint statement with these organizations emphasizing that “research is clear: stigma-based education is harmful and ineffective. Stigma discourages young people from seeking help, worsens health outcomes, and erodes trust between students and the adults in their lives.”
Kooner’s proposal would have required the education minister to implement, within six months, a curriculum that “explicitly discourages drug use,” highlights its health risks, and “promotes stigma against drug use as a deterrent.” Kooner said he was open to removing the word “stigma” through an amendment if it was a concern.
Despite that, the bill was narrowly defeated in a 48–43 vote along party lines, with the Greens siding with the governing NDP. The One B.C. MLA and three Independents voted in support of the Conservatives.
Conservative MLA Claire Rattée also spoke about her own past struggles with addiction, saying that current educational programs “normalize” drug use and downplay its dangers.
Independent MLA Eleanor Sturko, who voted for the bill, said the province must do more to counter programs like the “safer supply” initiative, which she argued have caused harm.
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