Drug crisis grim reality for city’s downtown

By Lethbridge Herald on April 18, 2023.

Lethbridge Police Service Sgt. Ryan Darroch of the downtown policing unit gives a presentation to residents and business owners about the current drug crisis in the city’s downtown, Tuesday at Casa. Herald photo by Delon Shurtz

Delon Shurtz – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – dshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

Once known as a quiet, family oriented community, Lethbridge is quickly becoming better known as the drug and crime capital of Canada.

“We still have the highest crime index in the country, based on our population,” says Sgt. Ryan Darroch of the Lethbridge Police Service.

Darroch, who gave a presentation Tuesday at Casa on the current drug crisis downtown, said southern Alberta is leading Canada in overdose deaths per capita, but the Lethbridge region is leading the rest of the province.

It’s a grim picture Darroch painted for a group of Lethbridge residents and business owners, but one that reflects the reality of the drug crisis in the city.

Not that long ago, cocaine was the drug of choice, today, however, methamphetamine and fentanyl are the most popular drugs, and they are killing people at an alarming rate, and Lethbridge is no exception.

“Vancouver recently came out saying that they had 44 overdose deaths in a 12-hour shift,” Darroch said following his presentation. “We’re not far behind.”

Darroch, who is a member of the downtown policing unit, said two kinds of drugs, stimulants and depressants, are “crushing” the downtown. And as bad as cocaine was, and continues to be, the current drug problems are so much worse.

“Methamphetamine has taken over as the most popular drug in the City of Lethbridge and area.”

Meth causes, among other symptoms, hyperactivity, restlessness and twitching, and it raises blood pressure and causes users to sweat, even in the cold of winter. And although it can be consumed in several ways, using a meth pipe or “bubble” is the most common method. That method, Darroch pointed out, has far surpassed the use of needles to inject meth into the blood stream.

Of all the opiates – oxycodone, oxycontin, heroin, fentanyl, carfentanil, morphine – meth is king, but they all have a significant impact on the human body.

When a person uses opiates, the chemicals in the drug hijack the natural opioid receptors in the central nervous system and brain, then replace the dopamine with synthetic dopamine. The person feels happy and experiences a sudden rush of ease, well-being and euphoria. As opiate abuse continues, the brain stops producing natural dopamine because there is an abundance of it.

Where there are drugs, weapons are typically found, as well, and weapons often seized during downtown busts include bear spray, machetes and Airsoft pistols, which shoot plastic BBs using compressed air.

“Are they dangerous? Absolutely. Can they hurt someone? Absolutely. But I think the biggest danger is pointing them at someone who has a real firearm.”

Darroch, who estimates there are hundreds, if not thousands, of addicts in the Lethbridge area, said even though the downtown policing unit is doing its best to curb drug use, it’s difficult with only three officers.

At one time there were about a dozen officers, but the number has dropped, not from staffing cuts, but from a reduction in the number of people applying to be police officers.

There is also the constant struggle to prosecute drug traffickers, who are repeatedly freed on bail despite repeated arrests and charges. 

That was one of several concerns expressed by people who listened to Darroch’s presentation.

Darroch said police are doing their job to arrest and charge drug offenders, but “when those files go to court, that’s a different story.”

Darroch pointed out it becomes a federal issue and a lack of will by the federal government to prosecute the smaller drug busts.

“It is frustrating, for sure.”

The number of times an offender is arrested then released on bail is also frustrating, and even though police chiefs in Canada are fighting for bail reform, nothing has changed yet.