The Alberta government established a Supervised Consumption Services Review Committee to evaluate the social and economic impacts of current and proposed supervised consumption sites.
This committee is touring the province, and receiving in-person feedback from public engagement sessions. They held two in Lethbridge, and although I attended one, I didn’t speak at the mic. They offer online submissions, as well as email submissions via SCS.Review@gov.ab.ca.
Here’s the email I submitted:
Harm reduction works. It saves lives, and it helps people overcome their addictions.
Lethbridge residents sure have had a lot to say regarding drugs, crime, and violence recently, Even though the drug crisis has been in this city for nearly 5 years, no one was discussing it until the supervised consumption site opened a year and a half ago.
Even though crime was increasing and public drug usage was on the rise, it wasn’t until the SCS was announced that people started rallying around how terrible the city had become.
I’ve read hundreds—if not thousands— of comments from people who are opposed to the SCS. That opposition varies by degrees, but it often comes down to common points.
Here are the 9 myths people often use when opposing the supervised consumption site and why exactly they’re just myths.