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Premier Kenney takes aim at harm reduction during recent stop on Blood Reserve

Premier Jason Kenney was pulling no punches when talking about harm reduction this past weekend.

Kenney was asked again about supervised consumption sites during a stop on the Blood Reserve Saturday (July 25) where he announced one of two drug recovery communities for southern Alberta.

He says if people think “the harm reduction obsession” is really successful in preserving lives, just look at the downtown east side of Vancouver to see what he calls the “human carnage”.

The truth is this,” stressed Kenney. “Handing someone deep in addiction a needle, is not a continuum of care. I don’t even think it’s terribly compassionate to simply facilitate an addiction, rather than offer a full spectrum of services for recovery and lifetime treatment. That’s the approach that we are taking.”

Kenney says he believes the recovery model is the continuum of care and compassionate approach to helping those addicted to drugs.

Recovery communities encourage participants to examine their personal behaviour to help them become more pro-social and positively engaged citizens – considered to be based on honesty, taking responsibility, hard work, and willingness to learn. The goal is for a participant to leave the program not only drug-free but also employed or in school or training.

Meanwhile, the Lethbridge Supervised Consumption Site has been under a huge microscope over the past few weeks after the government released an audit of the facility indicated $1.6 million dollars in a misappropriated public funds. Lethbridge Police are now investigating that to see if criminal charges are warranted.

Patrick Siedlecki
Patrick Siedlecki
Pat has been a mainstay in the CJOC News department from the time the station launched in 2007. He's been in the position of News Director since then and has been anchoring daily news casts as well as reporting and working behind the scenes. Community is important to him and keeping CJOC listeners and readers informed about what's happening across southern Alberta and beyond. Pat has been in radio broadcasting for the past 24 years, starting in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island in 1997 and then moving up island to Nanaimo for another few years before heading to Lethbridge in 2007. Pat grew up in the small Saskatchewan farming town of Foam Lake. After high school, he went to Western Academy Broadcasting College (WABC) in Saskatoon prior to moving to the island. Pat also spent several years broadcasting hockey in the BCHL as well as seven years as the radio voice of the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the WHL. Pat has been working at Cornerstone Funeral Home in Lethbridge as a Certified Life Celebrant and Funeral Assistant since 2016. News and sports have always been Pat's passion from the time he was a teenager and he's always been grateful to have had the opportunity to make that part of what's been a fun and long radio career!
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