{"id":4186,"date":"2020-02-21T15:03:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-21T22:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/?p=4186"},"modified":"2020-04-14T17:17:34","modified_gmt":"2020-04-14T23:17:34","slug":"my-response-closing-scs-is-key-to-a-healthier-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/2020\/02\/21\/my-response-closing-scs-is-key-to-a-healthier-community\/","title":{"rendered":"My response: \u201cClosing SCS is key to a healthier community\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Lethbridge Herald is on a roll this month with all the roasts and letters they\u2019re publishing from people opposed to the local supervised consumption site. I already addressed this week\u2019s roasts<\/a>, but I thought I\u2019d take a stab at some of the letters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wrote my response to the first letter<\/a> and the second letter<\/a> earlier this week. Below is my response to the third, which you can read here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Since the opening of the SCS, the crime rate in Lethbridge is escalating drastically. Utilizing Statistics Canada, Lethbridge is now ranked the 15th most dangerous place nationally, which is increased from 19th last year.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Lethbridge\u2019s crime rate has been increasing since 2014, so it\u2019s misleading to say it\u2019s \u201cescalated drastically\u201d since the SCS opened, which implies that the SCS caused the increase in crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2014, the CSI in Lethbridge increased by 24.35%. In no year since then has crime increased that much, not even close. The next highest increase was in 2017, and it was 15.94%. Even if you look at the CSI itself\u2014and not its rate of increase\u2014the 2018 CSI was lower than it was in 1998 and 1999. So, while crime did increase the year the SCS opened, it didn\u2019t \u201cescalate\u201d as \u201cdramatically\u201d as it did in the year before, let alone in 2017. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, we increased in the Maclean\u2019s rankings from 19th in 2017 to 15th in 2018. But we also increased from 26th place in 2016 to 19th place in 2017. And a jump from 26th to 19th seems much larger than from 19th to 15th. And if we\u2019re going to blame the SCS for the smaller jump in rankings, what are we going to blame for the much larger jump that occurred before the SCS opened?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My sons have found bullets in the meighbouring school yard. Children have been lured by strangers, and sustained needle-prick injuries from used needles in school grounds and parks. Criminals have broken into residences and businesses. There has been theft of property, car thefts, assaults with weapons. Drug paraphernalia has been found outside of health-care facilities housing seniors, the vulnerable sector. Children and seniors are being subjected to drug users \u201chigh\u201d on the streets. Three drug houses have been busted in my neighbourhood. Three. I do not understand how you view this as a \u201chealthier community.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

All of this makes sense if crime has gone up. But none of this proves the implied claim that crime is up because of the SCS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The community is healthier because fewer people are dying. The community is healthier because fewer people are using drugs in public. The community is healthier because the risk is lower of contracting a disease from a discarded needle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even so, as I said, this seems irrelevant to the existence of the SCS, unless you can somehow prove that the SCS increases crime. And you haven\u2019t done that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since when has it become morally or ethically acceptable for citizens to be exposed to this unacceptable behaviour, and be victimized by drug-related crimes that we are enabling with an ironically \u201csupervised consumption site\u201d which provides \u201cparty packs\u201d of needles to promote the use of illegal street drugs?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not acceptable for citizens to be exposed to the behaviours you listed. Which is why it\u2019s a good thing that the supervised consumption site exists: it reduces some of those public behaviours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The supervised consumption site does not enable crime, nor does it promote drug usage. People who come to the SCS to consume drugs are already addicted. They\u2019re already buying and using drugs. The SCS didn\u2019t convince them to start. \u201cParty packs\u201d contain a single needle (among other items), and the needle is the cheap part of consuming drugs. Providing free needles doesn\u2019t get someone started on drugs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was noted in 2019 the provincial government committed to $140 million towards the drug crisis. Let\u2019s not forget about the cost of health-care dollars to staff the SCS, purchase of needles, the cost of multiple quantities of naloxone, and emergency services. $140 million would be much better utilized for health-care initiatives and increasing hospital beds, health-care services, specialized services, and \u201cparty packs\u201d of insulin needles for diabetics who cannot afford their supplies, thus working \u201ccollaboratively with valued community partners towards a healthier community.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This isn\u2019t a contest. It doesn\u2019t need to be that we either fund the SCS or we fund treatment services. We can do both. Nor do we need to pit diabetic people against people who use drugs. We can provide needles to both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senior citizens of this community have contributed throughout their lives towards a vibrant city. Closing the SCS will promote a \u201chealthier community\u201d and a sense of well-being for many citizens.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

No, it won\u2019t. Closing the SCS will make things worse. Public drug usage will increase. Fatal overdoses will increase. Demand on first responders will increase. Demand on our emergency room will increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I realize that to some people, the situation in Lethbridge seems dire. And this perception didn\u2019t appear until the SCS opened, so the two seem connected, despite the fact that both crime and drug usage had been increasing since at least 2014. However, as I said, closing the SCS will worsen the situation. And then these same people will finally realize how much of a difference the SCS is actually making.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Closing the SCS will worsen the situation. And then people will finally realize how much of a difference the SCS is actually making.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[69],"tags":[83,79],"class_list":["post-4186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-scs","tag-drug-crisis","tag-scs"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/02\/prison-553836_1920-1.jpg?fit=1920%2C1280&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4NkW7-15w","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4172,"url":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/2020\/02\/19\/my-response-numbers-show-scs-is-creating-more-issues\/","url_meta":{"origin":4186,"position":0},"title":"My response: \u201cNumbers show SCS is creating more issues\u201d","author":"Kim Siever","date":"19 February 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The Lethbridge Herald is on a roll this month with all the roasts and letters they\u2019re publishing from people opposed to the local supervised consumption site. I already addressed this week\u2019s roasts, but I thought I\u2019d take a stab at some of the letters.","rel":"","context":"In "SCS"","block_context":{"text":"SCS","link":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/category\/politics\/scs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/syringe-3908153_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/syringe-3908153_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/syringe-3908153_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/syringe-3908153_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/syringe-3908153_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4170,"url":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/2020\/02\/17\/mythbusting-anti-scs-roasts\/","url_meta":{"origin":4186,"position":1},"title":"Mythbusting anti-SCS roasts","author":"Kim Siever","date":"17 February 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"People who oppose the Lethbridge supervised consumption site care more about ideology than they do facts.","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/syringe-1241241_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/syringe-1241241_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/syringe-1241241_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/syringe-1241241_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/syringe-1241241_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3857,"url":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/2019\/10\/02\/is-the-lethbridge-scs-really-straining-police-resources\/","url_meta":{"origin":4186,"position":2},"title":"Is the Lethbridge SCS really straining police resources?","author":"Kim Siever","date":"2 October 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week, the Lethbridge Police Service released data for calls to service in Lethbridge. For some reason, they organized that data in reference to the Supervised Consumption Site,","rel":"","context":"In "Lethbridge"","block_context":{"text":"Lethbridge","link":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/category\/lethbridge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/shutterstock_758023999.jpg?fit=1000%2C662&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/shutterstock_758023999.jpg?fit=1000%2C662&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/shutterstock_758023999.jpg?fit=1000%2C662&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/shutterstock_758023999.jpg?fit=1000%2C662&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3777,"url":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/2019\/09\/17\/my-email-to-the-scs-review-committee\/","url_meta":{"origin":4186,"position":3},"title":"My email to the SCS Review Committee","author":"Kim Siever","date":"17 September 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2019t\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/Screen-Shot-2019-09-17-at-05.12.28.png?fit=1200%2C845&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/Screen-Shot-2019-09-17-at-05.12.28.png?fit=1200%2C845&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/Screen-Shot-2019-09-17-at-05.12.28.png?fit=1200%2C845&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/Screen-Shot-2019-09-17-at-05.12.28.png?fit=1200%2C845&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/Screen-Shot-2019-09-17-at-05.12.28.png?fit=1200%2C845&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3973,"url":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/2019\/11\/16\/my-response-to-scs-isnt-to-blame-for-crime-problems\/","url_meta":{"origin":4186,"position":4},"title":"My response to \u201cSCS isn\u2019t to blame for crime problems\u201d","author":"Kim Siever","date":"16 November 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday, someone wrote a letter to the editor of the Lethbridge Herald. This person is dealing with drug addiction and was providing some insight from that perspective on the benefits of the supervised consumption site, as well as addressing some myths. Naturally, the online version of the letter received negative\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lethbridge"","block_context":{"text":"Lethbridge","link":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/category\/lethbridge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/syringe-3908153_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/syringe-3908153_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/syringe-3908153_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/syringe-3908153_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/syringe-3908153_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3680,"url":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/2019\/08\/06\/debunked-8-myths-about-the-lethbridge-supervised-consumption-site\/","url_meta":{"origin":4186,"position":5},"title":"Debunked: 9 myths about the Lethbridge supervised consumption site","author":"Kim Siever","date":"6 August 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Here are the 9 myths people often use when opposing the supervised consumption site and why exactly they\u2019re just myths.","rel":"","context":"In "Lethbridge"","block_context":{"text":"Lethbridge","link":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/category\/lethbridge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/syringe-1241241_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/syringe-1241241_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/syringe-1241241_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/syringe-1241241_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/08\/syringe-1241241_1920.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4186"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4189,"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4186\/revisions\/4189"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}