By Conner Toffan

Condo Association calls meeting over concerns with supervised consumption site

Feb 10, 2019 | 4:39 PM

Medicine Hat, AB— With concerns still being raised about the proposed supervised consumption site, a meeting is being held February 13 for community members to voice their concerns.

The meeting was called by the Centre View Condo Association.

Marci Marshall, President of the Centre View Condo Association, believes there was a lack of consultation for the neighbourhood once a location was decided.

“The point of that is to try and make enough noise and be heard with our own voices about our concerns so that Health Canada might pay attention and do a better job of requiring their application process to have better consultation with people in the area,” said Marshall.

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There are concerns for Marshall, though, that even if a move was forced, it would just end up in another community. So the biggest concern for Marshall now was the lack of “proper consultation” to help prepare for the consumption site.

“People need to be notified of the possible effects of what it’s going to do in their community,” said Marshall.

Living only 100 feet away from the site, Marshall is concerned about the intoxicated people coming through the neighbourhood.

“Essentially we’re condoning drug-use in a building right next door to our homes,” said Marshall.

Marshall believes that there needs to be needs to be rules about how close the consumption sites are to where people live.

Although Mark Latham is a Medicine Hat resident. Although he lives on the other side of the city, he believes the consumption site shouldn’t be in public, anywhere.

“I think we have a hospital here, that’s what they should deal with. Not have that in our downtown core,” said Letham, “I had a brother who was in the drug business in Regina. It still haunts me.”

According to the Alberta Health Service Website, the goal of a supervised consumption site is to “provide a safe environment for people who use drugs.” Reducing overdoses and the transmission of diseases and infections, while “offering additional services such as counselling, social work, and opioid-dependency treatment.”

The meeting is planned to take place Wednesday night at the Beveridge building downtown, starting at 7 P.M.

H.I.V Community Link has been invited to the meeting. Marshall hopes they will show up to hear community concerns.