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The Grande Prairie Mobile Supervised Consumption Site during the official unveiling back in March
Supervised Consumption Sites

Grande Prairie SCS town hall set for September 17

Sep 4, 2019 | 12:01 PM

Grande Prairie stakeholders will get to have their say about the use of supervised consumption sites, as the eight-member panel tasked with delivering the UCP government with insights into the future use of the sites province-wide will make a stop in the Swan City on September 17.

The town hall will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. in the Grande Ballroom of the Pomeroy Hotel on that day.

The Supervised Consumption Services Review Committee, chaired by former Edmonton Police Chief Rod Knecht, is made up of doctors, addictions specialists, professors and those with lived experiences, that have been given the duty of providing evaluations on the social and economic impacts of current and future consumption sites.

The panel was appointed by Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Jason Luan last month to listen to the opinions and insights of Albertans, then report their findings back to the provincial government for their consideration of policy changes.

The panel will be looking for feedback on a number of issues, according to the Alberta government website:

  • Crime rates, needle debris, complaints of social disorder
  • Data collection, residential property values, business impacts
  • Overdose reversals, emergency medical service calls, referrals to treatment providers
  • Proposed solutions to address impacts of the sites

The first town hall happened Tuesday in Medicine Hat, where over 200 stakeholders were in attendance for an emotional discussion on the topic. The panel will be in Lethbridge Wednesday and Thursday.

Pre-registration is required to attend the town hall as space is limited. The form to do so can be found here.

Those who wish to speak at the event will be limited to a maximum time of three minutes.

The panel will also be meeting with key stakeholder groups outside of the town hall. If your group would like to present to the panel separate from the town hall, you can apply to do that here.