An attendee shares their thoughts on supervised consumption services in Grande Prairie during Tuesday' town hall at the Pomeroy Hotel (Photo: Shaun Penner)

By Shaun Penner

SCS Town Hall

Community divided in opinion of supervised drug consumption

Sep 17, 2019 | 9:53 PM

Many opinions were shared during Tuesday’s Supervised Consumption Committee town hall. With those opinions, came plenty of emotion.

For what was maybe a smaller crowd attendance-wise than expected, the microphone was rarely left unattended as community members and stakeholders gave their thoughts on the use of the facilities. From those opinions shared, only one thing remains clear on where the community stands on the use of the site in the city: Split and divided.

Attendance was maybe a bit less than expected at the town hall. Though the microphone was hardly ever unused. (Photo: Shaun Penner)

Many were for the use of the site, including one Grande Prairie mother whose daughter is currently involved in the street population and is a drug user. She says her daughter often uses the site and its resources.

“She is a human being. She deserves help,” the Mother pleaded to the panel. “That’s my child. I would do it for your’s. Please help me fight for my kid’s life.”

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“I pray to God every night before I go to bed that that is where she is using. So that somebody is watching her and that she makes it through.”

The next person to take microphone was also a mother, but one who saw drug use from another point of view.

“I’m tired of calling people to come to our parks to clean up all the drugs and the needles,” she exclaimed. “To me, this drug injection mobile is aiding and abetting criminal activity. Drugs are illegal, so what are we doing?”

Each person who took the microphone was given three minutes to have their say, while the eight member, provincially appointed panel listened to all the questions, comments and insights the community provided.

Those opinions, along with those shared at town halls in Calgary, Lethbridge, Red Deer, Medicine Hat and Edmonton, will be used to formulate a report for the provincial government to review as they make a decision about the future of the sites.

The report is expected to be completed by the end of November, with the government’s decision planned for the end of the year.

One person who was in attendance taking it all in was Melissa Byers, the Executive Director of Northreach. Her organization operates the mobile supervised consumption site here in Grande Prairie.

Though she felt the process of the town hall was fair and it was good to hear the community speak up about where they stand on the issue, she feels the issues brought forward aren’t totally about the SCS itself.

“I feel like a lot of the issues that were brought forward are poverty and homelessness related and I think we need to start looking at the larger social context of why a supervised consumption site exists.”

Byers adds that the sites purpose is often misunderstood.

“Supervised consumption services are not just a place where people can come and use drugs. It’s a place where people get connection and they get access to additional support systems such as detox treatment, I.D., housing, financial supports,” said Byers. “We consider this more of a connection service and a base line program for individuals who are using drugs.”

But she does understand the frustration when it comes to needle debris being found outside of the confines of the site, which is in the parking lot of the Rotary House. Last week one resident took to social media to air their grievances with all the needles and drug paraphernalia found while they were trying to take their child to the park.

Though she acknowledges that Northreach does hand out clean needles to users, she does not condone them being a possible safety hazard for someone in the community.

“It’s kind of unfortunate that needles will be found in parks, needles have been found in parks for a very, very long time,” said Byers. “It’s not okay for that to be happening in our community.”

“Unfortunately, we can’t control people’s behaviors.”

In the meantime, Byers and Northreach, along with the rest of the community await a final decision about the future of the sites. With that, the conversation will undoubtedly continue.