Proposed supervised consumption site on South Railway Street in Medicine Hat - March 5, 2020 (photo courtesy Bob Schneider)

By Chantal Wagner

Supervised consumption site still up in the air following a government report

Mar 5, 2020 | 4:36 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB -This building still stands as the proposed supervised consumption site in Medicine Hat.

But whether the doors will ever open is still up in the air.

Funding for the project has been in limbo while the provincial government conducted a review of supervised consumption sites.

The 194-page report was released Thursday.

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It raises concerns about increased needle debris, a risk to public safety, and the increase of opioid-related deaths in the areas surrounding these sites.

“What we heard was a wake-up call. From increases to social disorder, to discarded needles, to the near absence of referrals to treatment and recovery. What we see is a system of chaos,” said Jason Luan Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions.

The report engaged with 19-thousand Albertans including people here in Medicine Hat.

Of those surveyed locally, 74 percent do not support having a supervised consumption site in their neighbourhood.

74 percent also felt a supervised consumption site would very much impact their neighbourhoods.

About 21 percent supported a site in the community.

Kym Porter is a local advocate for supervised consumption sites. She says, “If we don’t have a site they’re not going to stop using their drugs. It’s going to cause more of the concerns in the community that people are expressing

Her son Neil passed away in 2016 after an accidental fentanyl overdose.

“I’m quite concerned as a mom who grieves my son that they’ll be other family members in this community that will be dealing with the same level of grief that has no words.”

In the report, local residents suggested that municipally-owned land east of Maple Avenue near the South Saskatchewan River would be a preferable location.

HIV Community Link Medicine Hat who has been advocating for a site here is reviewing the report and was unavailable for comment.

Over the coming months, the government will review and consider changes to supervised consumption services and treatment centres on a city by city basis.