Downtown addictions problems: One objective, two different approaches
By Steffanie Costigan - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on August 22, 2023.
Herald file photo
Sgt. Ryan Darroch checks on unconscious unhoused individuals during a morning patrol of the downtown area earlier this month.Downtown Lethbridge is the heart of the city and faces challenges with crime and homelessness on a daily basis.
Some are eager to find solutions with the same objective in mind but there are two very different approaches toward overcoming the issues being faced in the city’s core.
Lori Hatfield, with Mom’s Stop The Harm (MSTH), shared the understanding she believes is needed along with the stable housing and support system lacking.
“Understanding each situation because everybody’s unique, not having stable housing impacts people tremendously. And it shows us that it’s very hard for somebody to stabilize when they don’t have the support systems in place,” said Hatfield this week.
City of Lethbridge Deputy Mayor and city councillor John Middleton-Hope has a different point of view on the situation.
He says enabling behaviours is not the solution and experts are needed to overcome the issues.
“What we do is we end up enabling a lot of these behaviours, and we just make it worse. So what we need to be doing is we need to be working with people that have expertise and experience in working with challenged populations, and criminal populations, because a lot of this, as I’ve mentioned before, is criminal in nature,” said Middleton-Hope.
Hatfield said addiction is contributing to the situation and talked about the sad stories behind those struggling with addiction.
“There’s so much involved with the homeless situation because not everybody was homeless.
Many people on the streets are there not because of addictions, she says.
“There’s many people on the streets that aren’t, that just don’t have a place to live for whatever reasons, and the stories are getting sadder and sadder. I think, from my perspective, that just leads to more people maybe turning to substances as a way of coping with their situation.”
Middleton-Hope shared his concerns about public safety along with the need to utilize available resources and the need for enforcement.
“I’m all about public safety. And public safety sometimes is not just enabling behaviours. A lot of it has to do with changing behaviours. And one of the ways in which you do that is you utilize the resources that you have, and that goes beyond just looking at trying to provide housing and trying to provide social services and so forth.
“A lot of it has to do with employee behaviours. And that’s where the police, bylaw enforcement, community peace officers, public security, private security all come in… If we don’t, we don’t have any accountability, we just continue to throw money at problems and hope that that’s going to solve it. And it doesn’t.”
Hatfield related her own personal experience with her son having struggled with addiction.
“If somebody finally gets the courage up – because it is a very scary move for them – if they’ve been using drugs to go to not using drugs, it’s very scary for them” to finally want to make that change, says Hatfield.
“They make that first step to go into detox. And that is, by no means, an easy time at all.”
Middleton-Hope says it’s important to hold people accountable for their harmful behaviours that are impacting businesses downtown.
“We have to hold people accountable for their behaviours. The behaviours that are occurring downtown are deplorable. Whether it’s because they got themselves hooked on drugs, or somebody got them hooked on drugs, or they’re dealing with trans-generational trauma, the reality is the outcome, which is for behaviours that take advantage of everybody downtown. And that’s got to stop.”
Hatfield voiced the approach she believes the City should take in assisting with the addiction challenges and the resources acquired.
“If the City wants to see change in the city, they need to have all those things set up. They need to have a detox, enter a transition right into treatment, and transition right into so sober living or transitional housing, something that works for them. They need to have those places, those things all in place, running fundamentally right after the other.”
Middleton-Hope shared statistics of illicit drug overdoses resulting in deaths throughout Lethbridge. The new numbers from the Alberta substance surveillance system concluded in January to the end of April of 2023, show 56 individuals had died due to illicit drug use.
He mentioned most of the deaths take place in Galt Gardens but not exclusively.
He recognizes some associated with Mom’s Stop the Harm have had experiences with family members going through drug addiction but pointed out they are not experts and encourages them not to dictate policies put into place to help with the challenges.
“You know, some of them may have experience with a family member was a drug addict or a family member ended up on the street, or something of that nature. But that doesn’t mean that they have expertise in that area. It simply means that they have a warm heart.
“For people that are living on the rough side of the street, that’s OK. But the reality is, is don’t try and dictate policy, don’t try and pre-suppose what the City is doing, what the police service is doing, what council is doing, to try and resolve these problems to have a sustainable impact on these problems.”
Hatfield said some resources are not set up fairly, with intake in some cases taking two weeks to two months to get in. And the requirement for individuals to call at a specific time is unrealistic given the situation of a lot of the individuals living on the street who don’t have cell phones or access to a phone.
“It’s setting people up to fail, that first service that might be helping them. What other places do you have where they turn you away and you start at square one again if you don’t check in?. . . Those needs have to be met in a way that is acceptable.”
Middleton-Hope noted Streets Alive provides individuals living on the street access to rides and opportunities on a regular basis. He said there are adequate services, but it is the individual’s choice to utilize those resources.
“The primary goal is to make contacts and to refer people to services and the services are available. The downside is we don’t always have the services available at the time when they need them.
“Not all of the services are geared towards every person downtown. But at the end of the day, there are adequate services. If people want the services, then they can access them. The reality is, there are many people downtown who don’t want the services.”
Hatfield said the closure of the supervised consumption site pushed more individuals out on the street to use drugs and the provincial government hasn’t helped to address the issues.
“We had a place for people to go use their drugs safely. And they weren’t happy about that either. And we told them, once you get rid of the supervised consumption site, you’re pushing people back out on the street to use. Where are they going to go? They have nowhere to live, they’re going to use on the street. So the community and our and our municipal government have created this mess, as well. Well, maybe not created it, but they haven’t helped to aggress to a more positive outcome.”
Middleton-Hope pointed out negatively criticizing the professionals does not solve any problems and invites those interested in wanting to make change to join the efforts.
“Having people who criticize everything that the city is doing, and having people that criticize what council is doing, or people that criticize what the police service are doing, it’s not helpful. If you want to come forward and provide expertise in an area, we’re all for it.
“If you want to provide research, or if you want to provide help, we’re certainly about that. But at the end of the day, your criticisms really don’t do a whole lot in terms of solving the problems.”
Hatfield voiced the mechanisms needing to be put into place without implementing personal beliefs.
“We need to put mechanisms in place to support people where they’re at now without trying to implement our values and our beliefs on them. And that’s what our city council needs to do. They need to start looking at this more with an open mind and a willingness to help people.”
Middleton-Hope described the mental state of some individuals experiencing addiction who are unable to mentally live in a home or apartment setting.
“You think we can give them a home and give them an apartment? No, they wouldn’t know what to do with that… These people that are living hard on the street that are drug addicted that have organic brain damage. Do you think we can get them a house?
“Do you think we can get them into services? And the answer to that is we can’t. We can’t provide treatment for everybody, and not everybody responds to treatment.”
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I agree with much of what Councilor Middle-Hope. I do not agree with Mom’s Stop the Harm’s approach and although I feel for those who have lost loved ones, harm reduction doesn’t work and is what causes the most deaths.
BC was had the first safe injection site in North America, opening in 2003 in Vancouver DTES. They have had harm reduction in play for over 20 years and every year the number of fatal overdoses increase, along with the numbers of addicts, crime, homelessness and related mental health issues.
The advocates always come up with an excuse why it isn’t working, using even more destruction policies that only amplify the crisis, such as safe drug supply and decriminalization.
All have failed in the US and are failing in BC, but they won’t admit it.
Meanwhile, the number of fatal overdoses increase and more families are devastated. In BC the non-profit industry, which enables addicts to continue in their addictions is now a billion dollar industry. They openly claim that they are there to assist the addict where they are and have no intention on trying to get them into treatment, that it is up to the addict to decide.
Remember we were sold on the idea that the supervised consumption site in Lethbridge was needed so they could try to talk to people when they come, to get treatment . . . ? Well the new policies are now to just help them where they are, with no path to treatment, supplying them with all the paraphernalia to continue in their addictions, and in some cases those advocates who say they are there to help the addict, state it is judgemental to offer addicts treatment. It is inhumane to allow someone to slowly kill themselves in this manner.
Look at what is happening just in Lethbridge, people sleeping on the streets, up all night committing crimes to support their addiction, with sores on their bodies from the drugs like xylazine which are added to the opiates, and seeing the walk like 90 year old seniors from the drug abuse . . . how is it acceptable to allow this to play out in a modern world?
This is just how insane these non-profits have become, while they make money off the addicts and try to brainwash society into believing this is acceptable.
BC is the biggest evidence from all their years of pushing harm reduction, which I will also mention includes keeping law enforcement out of the picture, is a complete failure.
The proof is there! North America is waking up and realizing this and you now see a tough stance on drugs rising, and efforts to get people out of the lawless encampments, off the streets and get them into effective treatment programs.
In Lethbridge, the ones you see camped out on business doorways, up all night are the ones creating crimes and are not the truly homeless that for one reason or another cannot afford to pay for housing. Many on the of these people have warrants as well.
Education of the issues, anti-drug policies, law enforcement backed up with drug courts, and effective mental health and addiction programs backed up with upgrading and job placement is the best way out to end this crisis.
You can force and addict into treatment and it be effective with success rates of 78-83% when 18-24 month programs are employed and there is tangible evidence.
People still die from alcohol abuse. Did bars or legalization stop that?
People who are no longer with us, who fatally overdosed from drugs had stated that the harm reduction policies and drug accessibility were what made it hard to be successful in treatment efforts. It was everywhere and policies promote it, enable it!
We are all impacted by this in many areas, with taxpayers across Canada on the hook for the billions to support or pay for the impacts of it . . . billions!
That money would be better spent in treatment programs, not enabling.
The impacts are vast and people are fed up! You will soon see lawsuits from people fighting back, as you now see in the US and these lawsuits will be from people impacted that no one listened to.
You do not need to initiate any research studies to see what is not working in solving this crisis and only have to look at the 20 years BC has pushed their failed harm reduction policies and the thousands who died because of it. That is the best example of the harm reduction failure!
What a cop out. You can’t provide treatment for everybody and not everyone responds to treatment is statistically correct but to sit back and do nothing but twiddle your thumbs is not an answer. You need to consult with people with a vision. This is a worldwide problem and they other people out there that have had successes. Call them!
You think the city is doing nothing? Have you been under a rock? The city has been consulting for years now. Have you read the consultant’s report? Apparently there is another one in the works.
Tell us about the success stories. May depend how you measure success?
Most of what Hatfield states shows just how out of touch the not for profit organizations such as Moms Stop the Harm are.
Comments such as:
“We had a place for people to go use their drugs safely. And they weren’t happy about that either. And we told them, once you get rid of the supervised consumption site, you’re pushing people back out on the street to use. Where are they going to go? They have nowhere to live, they’re going to use on the street. So the community and our and our municipal government have created this mess, as well. Well, maybe not created it, but they haven’t helped to aggress to a more positive outcome.”
The SCS dramatically increased the open drug use on our streets if you would have been paying attention. Addicts even stated how bad the SCS was. People died within blocks of leaving the site, one right in their parking lot.
Visilby pregnant women, 7-8 months pregnant were allowed to go in an use drugs and teenagers 15 and 16 years old that I am aware of were allowed in to use. There were no restrictions.
You ask where do they go? Where did they come from?
These organizations have no intention of treating people, only supplying the things they need to do drugs. They are part of the problem not the solution and should be defunded and tax dollars should be focused on treatment, not enabling.
Those who believe that the SCS was good for Lethbridge are brainwashed, uninformed, and I don’t believe they will ever admit how these sites are killing machines. People do die at these sites and for several years I have seen the deaths pile up in Vancouver back alleys, just after people have left one of these sites, just like in Lethbridge.
LPS was constantly administering Naloxone within a block of the SCS after that person had just left the SCS. Many of the staff, who dealt with a persons life had only taken some short online courses to work there or 3 month courses to get some fancy name. For the numbers reported there were not properly trained staff and it gave the facade of being able to save lives!
When customers leave a safe consumption site and pass away shortly after leaving, the site should be held liable. A bar can be sued if it overserves customers and they get hurt. These sites are only ‘bars’ for drugs! They provide the impression that users may use dangerous narcotics in safety. They should be liable.
Totally agree with Middleton-Hope. The experts called upon, as long as they are not conflicted I would agree as well. The difficulty is finding experts. DTES Vancouver heralded and relied on one that wrote over 88 papers on the treatment of addicts only to find he was actually frontrunning his articles, so I am told, and installing the service in advance.
Having “experts” like Stacey Bourgue brought in to tell you that the DTES Vancouver is a raging success and that is why you needed an SCS in Lethbridge makes the public even more suspicious of these experts. Being an ex-addict doesn’t make you an expert either.
So, one thing I am not is an expert, however I listen, and watch and have observed for years. The constant is, either you remove the dealers from the addict, or you remove the addict from the dealers.
That is what my proposal did, it removed the addict from the dealers and allowed LPS to make access to the addict rediculously hard. If a addict came to the city, he would go straight to his dealer and the LPS could nab the dealer immediately.
If the Dealer tried to get to the facility to get access to the addict he/she would also be nabbed.
However, in all cases of nabbing dealers we fail and fail miserably. How badly? Enough that we are now supplying needles to prisoners in our prisons so they do not spread HIV etc etc. So this is not the answer either in my opinion.
Having the addict comfortably killing our city does not solve the issue with going after dealers. You might as well install an addict in a maze, you have just multiplied the difficulty if finding the addict, finding the dealer, and having LPS there to nab him/her.
So it really depends if we just want to be another city paying the same lipservice to this issue like all the other cities, or not!
Do we let the addict takeover the city or does the city takeover the addict ?
If you want to live for free and use up all your money and other peoples property to sustain your habit, then wee will tell you where the free stuff is located!
Where the free stuff is, (medical, food, clothing, shelter) is not in any area that impinges on the rights of citizens, businesses or our society. Pretty simple theory and totally enforceable.
Lastly, homeless people are treated altogether differently that is why my proposal had a facility where the shelter is now, totally separate where we house addicts.
We have to get back to “Personal Responsibility” or what we do is succumb to the bleeding hearts club that would destroy our downtown without a blink of an eye and do so thinking its a wonderful thing they do!
MSTH and Hatfield would not give a lick if the downtown were to collapse. How do I know? All part of the same eyeroller society in this city.
By this article and the responses in the comments, I would say that your city is screwed. It used to have a vibrant downtown; flower shops, shoe stores, car dealers, department stores, a bowling alley – now it seems you have favoured Mayor Magrath Drive, and abandoned your downtown, allowing the riff raff to take over and giving them carte blanche. Gather up your resolve and take action, and I’ll tell you, harm reduction does not work.