Alberta’s UCP government announcing this week it’s suspending funding for new supervised drug consumption site (SCS) pending a review.
Three proposed sites are impacted in Red Deer and Medicine Hat and mobile site in Calgary.
Lethbridge-East MLA Nathan Neudorf tells our radio station this review does not impact the local site here at least not yet. “It’s in an effort to a full comprehensive review of the entire services. I think in Lethbridge we’ve seen the challenges when you only look at one aspect, like only harm reduction. We also have to look at prevention, enforcement as well as treatment and recovery.”
The former NDP government did announce money for detox and intox service for Lethbridge a few months back, however that cash is still in the que for future facilities.
The Lethbridge SCS is said to be the most heavily-used facility of its kind in North America and possibly even the world.
Neudorf says once the proposed supervised consumption sites have been reviewed, then perhaps the existing ones would be look at as well. “Obviously we are looking at the new proposed sites first. Once those ones have a straight forward plan, then maybe they would move to some of the existing ones. That’s something we’ve talked to the city (City of Lethbridge) about, stakeholders involved as well as EMS and police.”