Consumption sites not the answer, says outreach worker
By Theodora MacLeod - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on August 16, 2023.
Herald photo by Al Beeber
The mobile supervised consumption site is seen parked outside the homeless shelter.Theodora Macleod
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Supervised injection sites have been a topic of interest since their introduction to Canadian addiction care in 2003.
Their history, however, can be traced back to 1986 when Switzerland began a program to combat HIV, which can be transmitted through the sharing of hypodermic needles.
The purpose of the facilities is to provide a clean space where people battling addictions can inject illicit drugs without the added risks of an unhygienic environment. Those who support these consumption sites hope to reduce harm, however many working on the front lines to help addicts, believe these consumption sites are doing more harm than good.
From February 2018 to August 2020, Lethbridge was home to one of the largest supervised consumption sites in North America. Managed by ARCHES Lethbridge, the facility saw upwards of 500 visitors in a day, but according to local outreach worker Alvin Mills, supervised consumption was never, and still isn’t, the answer.
“People might say it was a good idea, but I think the recovery process needs to be given a chance,” Mills says.
A former drug user himself, he knows firsthand the challenges people battling addictions face, especially those who are Indigenous. He believes that while the consumption site was open, recovery took a backseat to “safe consumption,” which did little to address the issue.
A proud member of the Niitsitapi people, Mills had concerns that traditional ceremonies were taking place in the facilities while participants were under the influence of opioids and other substances.
“When you’re doing ceremonies, there should be no use of drugs of any kind,” he explains. He also feels that the sites encouraged those living on nearby reserves to come into Lethbridge to use drugs and says he didn’t see many success stories coming out of the consumption site.
He recalls more than one occasion where he witnessed illegal activity such as drug dealing, and prostitution take place near the property.
Though the supervised consumption site is no longer running, a trailer in downtown Lethbridge with the intention of preventing overdoses has opened since; however it doesn’t have the same level of involvement with the actual consumption of the illegal substances.
For Mills, the key to caring for people experiencing drug addiction can be found in the land and traditional Blackfoot healing. For the second year he is running a recovery camp that he says will remove people from their environment and allow them to begin to address the trauma at the root of their addiction.
The Kii Maa Pii Pii Tsin (Kindness to Others) Deep Healing Recovery Camps welcome both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, as well as families and couples. While at the camp, they live in tipis and have the option to partake in traditional activities and ceremonies that encourage connection and healing. He says that at the core of his work is the desire to treat all people with compassion and dignity no matter their circumstances.
As the number of people battling drug addiction on the streets of Lethbridge continues to grow, it is clear more action is needed. Unfortunately, what remains to be seen is what the most effective course of action would be.
15-14
Thank you Alvin for expressing what many of us who have watched harm reduction and these sites fail for over 20 years in BC. They attract people and enable them to do drugs, with a misconception that it must be alright to do drugs because they are providing these sites and all the paraphernalia we need to do them. They are even provided safe drugs in BC now.
There is nothing safe about these drugs! Prescription drugs are what got many addicted in the first place!
I hope your camp is blessed and your operations successful Alvin and you will gain more funding and support. You are a dedicated person who is willing to take on such a tough task and I know you will not quit trying to help these people get into treatment. Your dedication far surpasses many who enable the addicts in this city!
The overdose prevention trailer at the shelter is really not that busy, since there are groups moving around the city handing out the ‘party packs’ that have the paraphernalia in them and others with Naloxone kits, and since no one ever stopped them from doing drugs openly on the streets, they do them anywhere they feel like it, openly without any cares.
I would be ticketed if I was walking down the street drinking a beer!
Insanity! We are partly responsible for many of the deaths by allowing the enabling. Society had laws to protect all the people, including the ones who we now allow to slowly kill themselves, living rough, watching sores grow on their bodies and destroying the rest of their mind and body so they walk like senior citizens. We are torturing them in their last days of life and make now mistake, the clock begins to ticks as soon as the end up on the streets, some last a few weeks and others a few years before fatally overdosing or committing suicide in despair.
This is the new humanity!!?? I hope not!
Effective treatment programs are the only way to end this! Stop dumping millions into enabling them and put that money into treatment! It is cheaper by far and if you haven’t heard, the federal government is slashing budgets and portfolios so many of your perks and supports you enjoy will be cut or reduced, so you better start demanding your tax dollars go where it will count!
I support you Alvin . . . keep up the great work!
The lack of leadership by the City Council and Mayor on these problems is very concerning. They were voted in to address these social issues and have failed to do so. Walking around downtown for and hour or so is just a photo op. There is money available for both the province and the federal government and they should tap into these resources a come up with a real plan. Homelessness and drug addiction go hand in hand and need to be prioritized. This is the most important issue of our community and needs to be treated as such. No more ridiculous spending.
There will be a change at City Hall after the next election. They are not paying attention to their electorate and spend tax dollars on projects such as bike lanes, the Galt Garden playground, revitalization downtown that will not solve issues and go against citizens outcries. Sad, because it overshadows some of the good things they did, such as the encampment strategy.
Change is coming!
Alvin Mills is the expert Council should be listening to. They should be ashamed at their “throw money, and hire managers” approach to this crisis .
Thank-you Mr. Mills.. you echo the comments I received from experts at Betty Ford (who are almost all recovering addicts as well). As a lawyer our office attempted and failed to get access to addiction support through the former “safe” consumption site. Waste of tax dollars doing little to actually assist those it purports to.
Addicts will take any cue they can to justify their addiction – and calling a site “safe” is a huge invitation to not seek treatment. Beyond that – as you allude to – they are a huge draw to the criminal element profiting from addiction.
The SCS cost taxpayers over $28 million in under 2 years of operation. That doesn’t include the costs to deal with the issues it caused. One commentor on this forum has stated that Lethbridge taxpayers paid over $14 million in supports/services for this crisis, that is municipal taxes and revenues collected locally, not provincial or federal tax dollars. All this while organized crime and gangs grow in the community.
How much is the mobile safe consumption site costing us? And the overdose provention site in the shelter complex?
Some street drug addicts are also referred to the detox center in the hospital. Not saying we shouldn’t have this but after treatment should have stricter rules.
The OPS is the mobile consumption site. It is the only legal site in Lethbridge and is operated by Blood Tribe Department of Health. They took over operating it about 1 year prior to taking over the shelter, so it would be federal funding.
Here is a wake-up call to all who think enabling addicts, leaving them alone as they slowly kill themselves, while waiting for them to decide they are ready is the right thing to do! It spreads throughout the whole community doing this, just as it has in BC!
Kids overdosing is a public health emergency, Canadian pediatricians say.
https://lethbridgeherald.com/news/national-news/2023/08/16/kids-overdosing-is-a-public-health-emergency-canadian-pediatricians-say/
“It says fatal overdoses are the leading cause of death in children and teens between 10 and 18 years old in Western Canada.”
Yes this is also happening in Lethbridge!