By Ashley Wiebe

Police commission discusses safe consumption site

May 18, 2018 | 4:10 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — The idea of a safe consumption site and what it could mean for Medicine Hat was discussed at the police commission meeting on Thursday night.

Chief Andy McGrogan spoke candidly and admitted at first, he didn’t agree with the idea of a safe consumption site.

He said over the last few months he has been made a ‘believer’ after hearing from people in the community and having worked closely with the group who plans to open the safe site here.

HIV Community Link has been working closely with police and the people who would use the site.

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McGrogan said he now has a better understanding of just what it could mean for them and the city as a whole.

“These people are injecting dangerous drugs in their homes and dying and some people will say ‘it’s just some drug addict’ but that’s somebody’s kid, somebody’s father, somebody’s mother,” he said, following the meeting. “So what we want to see is that people like that get help.”

McGrogan has seen first hand how drug use is impacting the community.

He said he was at Police Point Park, out walking his dogs when he came across a needle.

There is a needle exchange program in the city, which HIV Community Link operates.

In the last year, they handed out more than 237,000 needles in Medicine Hat alone.

That number is down slightly from 2016, when roughly 240,000 were distributed.

McGrogan said he knew what to do with the used needle and safely disposed of it, but he said not everyone knows how.

“You have to be so careful when you find a used needle in a park, wherever it might be,” he said. “Either call us, or if you know how to safely handle it, if it has a cap on it, get it to a place where it can be disposed of properly.”

McGrogan added officers carry sharps disposal kits in their patrol cars and said they’re always happy to help.

He added that while the idea of a safe consumption site is still a relatively new idea, police know they can’t arrest their way through every social issue and are willing to see what else they can do to keep everyone safe.