Walking and talking aren’t the solution to addictions problems here
By Lethbridge Herald on August 31, 2023.
Editor:
Councillors first-hand look at downtown issues, Lethbridge Herald, Aug. 5. Councillors John Middleton-Hope and Jenn Schmidt-Rempel, along with two members of the LPS, had a tour of the downtown and Galt Gardens to get a first hand look.
Middleton-Hope worked for 29 years in law enforcement, including as LPS Chief of Police from 2002-2006, 18 years as a police leader specializing in ethics, community policing, problem solving leadership and police conduct management.
Quite an impressive resume and in 2021 was elected to city council. While running for council he stated “one of my priorities was to displace the abnormal users who are there only to sleep in the park, and that’s one area I’m very interested in.”
Mr. Middleton-Hope appears to be a bit of a visionary as in 2002 he warned that challenges would escalate if they were not addressed and according to him that’s exactly what happened. ( I told you so).
So after 20 years what are Mr. Middleton-Hope’s solutions? He says the downtown walks by city councillors will give council members a chance to talk with people about ongoing issues, great more talk.
He goes on to say he and Schmidt-Rempel will go back to council and talk to the City and say “ how can we make this work properly.” More talk. All I’m hearing is more talk and walk, no solutions.
At the end of the walk Schmidt-Rempel talked about her effort of checking up on the downtown area and talking with some of the business owners downtown, pop in to find out what they are experiencing. She goes on to say “I’ll walk different ways downtown. So it’s just a matter of walking around downtown and being aware of what’s going on, so more walking and talking.
Well if that does not solve the problem of councillor Middleton-Hope’s so-called abnormal users I don’t know what will.
One of the officers along for the walk in the park is quoted as saying “We get a lot of drug seizures, and just kind of move people along before our downtown kind of lights up with our normal business each day.” He also said that it’s great chance to engage this population (Mr. Middleton-Hope’s abnormal users), again a lot of talking and walking but it does not solve the problem.
Then in the Aug. 22 Herald Mr. Middleton-Hope gives us some “solutions.” He goes on to say that “we have to hold the people accountable for their harmful behaviour. Their behaviour is deplorable. Whether they get themselves hooked on drugs, the reality is the outcome, which is behaviour that takes advantage of everybody downtown, and that’s got to stop.
More talk, tough talk accomplishes nothing. But if talking and walking won’t do the trick then why not just put a fence around it, problem solved .
Lori Hatfield of Moms Stop The Harm (MSTH) has a different take on the situation. She said understanding each situation, because every body’s unique, not having stable housing impacts people. It’s hard for people if they don’t have the support systems in place. Hatfield has her own personal experience with her son having struggled with addiction and how hard it is to take the first step toward detox. Mr. Middleton-Hope does not agree with Lori Hatfield, saying people should be held accountable for their actions.
I agree with Lori Hatfield: I say the biggest obstacle to dealing with addiction is the lack of help for those that want it.
Here is one suggestion: if a person overdoses and is revived he/she when recovered should be asked if they want to get help with their addiction, whether it be drugs or alcohol, and if they want help it should be offered right there – not a referral for some time in the future.
It has to be in that moment, otherwise they will be back on the street again in a matter of hours.
So tough talk plays well to the crowd that likes to hang drug dealers and lock the rest up for life but it’s not a solution to the problem. Neither is walking through the downtown and asking business owners how they are doing.
In all fairness to the city council it is not a problem that’s unique to Lethbridge – it is a problem worldwide and it appears that no one has found a solution to the problem yet and perhaps never will. But then again I don’t believe that any politician is losing sleep over it.
Barney Feenstra
Lethbridge
21-20
Mr. Feenstra, when people overdose and EMS revives them they are angry that EMS just took away their high with Narcan and often are abusive to those that just saved their life.
Your ideas are those of a defeatist! Just let it happen, ho hum!
Council has been successful in several areas in reducing numbers on our streets this year. Their plan is working! Harm reduction is a complete failure as we witness in BC after 2 decades of trying to prove it. Thank God we have a Council that is willing to take a stand against these failed policies that are killing thousands. For Council to actually go out and see for themselves, not just once but several times is the way to see the truth, now they know what to look for.
It is easy to see you have no idea what dealing with an addict involves. Many addicts will tell you when they are in transition that harm reduction and safe injection sites make it very hard for them to make a decision to quit, because there are so many non-profits out there who are just enabling the addict and in many cases walk right up to them on the street to provide them with everything the need to do their drugs.
The provincial government is moving rapidly to get more treatment beds, but it isn’t just about building the facilities, you need to staff them with qualified personnel! The Compassionate Intervention Act is a big step in the right direction! This is not alcohol! Many who end up on the streets are dead with 2 years! Many of these non-profits such as the Supervised Drug Consumption Sites are no longer trying to get them into treatment, which was the guise of the Lethbridge SDCS.
I am sure you mean well Sir, but someone has ill informed you.
solid observations. what is also missing in the equation is that so very many of those addicted to highly addictive synthetic substances are fasd, severely trauma affected, mentally/emotionally ravaged humans. all the forced “treatment” that the militant holier-than-thou folk feel will work will most often amount to nothing.
“In all fairness to the city council it is not a problem that’s unique to Lethbridge – it is a problem worldwide and it appears that no one has found a solution to the problem yet and perhaps never will.”
That in a nutshell is the real truth of this. 95% of the addicted population (whatever that number is, as it grows from year to year will remain wherever you allow them to reside.
So we can continue to debate whether a shelter at Stafford bridge is a good idea, or whether we should take an empty lot across from the Bakery on Stafford and house FASD Chronic Drug Addicts. No matter what is done if you begin housing them in the downtown, This is where they will remain for eternity. So walking, talking, throwing U of L shingles around, tearing up when the word homeless is mentioned, demanding services that are offered at the speed of light, will not make any difference.
The part that no one seems to focus on is 95% will remain addicted 24/7/365 and what we do is spend all our taxes on servicing the 5% that will attempt rehab and the 1% that succeed. Meanwhile the 95% destroy the downtown, make people feel insecure in their own cities, crush businesses to a breaking point and rob close by residents on a regular basis.
These are the facts or as the EROL say the evidence based data!
Love it! A Shingle holder who gets it, he should lecture U of L and the EROL.
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/adam-pankratz-progressives-allergic-to-facts-on-drug-policy-and-much-else
your proposal is far better than the plan the city endorses. it makes me wonder: is there not a way your plan can be used, but such that those whose pockets will be long lined by the city’s approach can instead be as lined by your plan? the city might then support the more intelligent and humane plan you have been sharing with us, while still being able to do what it does best: line the pockets if its favourite cronies.
City is being held at gunpoint, and whom is pointing the gun is Marshal Smith the “inventor of the Alberta Model”. When I asked him point blank whether saving cities from this disaster was part of the model, he walked around it as a politician would and ranted on about how we and Red Deer were the Pilot Projects and lets get on with it.
Personally, I would have told the UCP to stick their pilot project where the sun don’t shine until they could tell me how it can be done without destroying the cities downtown, any cities downtown. But thats why I don’t run for politics, I have no tact and never intend on getting any.
thanks for sharing out your ideas and experiences. a frustrating road, to say the least.
Yesterday I was downtown to survey the impact on businesses of these ill-timed road closures. I used the opportunity to check out Needleman Park and observed the usual gong show of tweakers, spikers and peddle pushers. This leads me to wonder, why is it OK to shoot up illegal drugs in a public place? Can you just imagine if someone had a family picnic there and dared to pop open a pilsner?
At the same time as this fiasco is ongoing, our small, family-owned businesses are being bled dry by a downtown surtax to fund a “revitalization” program that has no reasonable potential to impact the underlying cultural dynamic. Meanwhile, taxpayers are being slammed with the costs of adding additional invisible police officers to the force. So, why is it up to City Councilors to address the issue relegated to using the only tool they have in order to address these existential issues through walking, talking and “getting to know” these fine citizens. .
Maybe it would be more effective if we had uniformed police with feet on the street and actually dealing with crime in real time? Instead, someone decided we would be futher ahead by spending millions and millions of dollars, on bike paths and seasonal spray parks, that nobody is actually going to use.
One thing I’m pretty sure we can all agree on: Changes need to be made, and soon, because this koombaya crap just isn’t working.
Completely agree! I like the idea of councillors walking the downtown to see for their own eyes, as long as they are actually noticing what is unfolding in front of them. Many are oblivious and walk by needles, paraphernalia and people consuming drugs unaware. You have to actually look!
Yes but it appears to give the excessive amount of city staff something to do. This mayor and council are too easily lead down the garden path. Sometimes other cities tell the provincial and federal governments to keep their money or portion of, for these feel good projects. It makes council look ridiculous. Citizens should get real, record able,transparent say or vote on these projects. That does not include the city’s so called surveys. Their surveys waste money and are self- serving to the point that fewer and fewer residents have any trust or respect for these jokers.