Drug use, crime a continuing threat

The headline in the Oct. 2 Herald happily announced “... opioid misconceptions ...” have been put to rest. The accompanying article then covered the address of the managing director of ARCHES to the Community Issues Committee. The statistics she provided paint an astonishing picture of an out-of-control social disaster. Others also provided input that did not seem to contradict the points she made.

The majority of the citizens of Lethbridge can plainly see what is going on and they are quite properly not happy about it. They know that all the efforts to date by the mayor, city council, the chief of police and ARCHES do not appear to have stemmed the drug problems or significantly reduced crime. Rampant drug abuse and attendant crime is a serious and continuing threat to our community. This is not a “misconception.”

If there have indeed been about 65,000 “visits” to the consumption site over the past six months as reported, that must mean that thousands of illegal drug deals went down during that time. What a field day for the pushers! Of course, drug dealers are not known for being charitable or community spirited, so these illegal drugs must be paid for. And, as the addicts usually don’t have any adequate source of income, the money must be obtained by committing criminal offences against their fellow citizens. Downtown businesses have been particularly hard hit by criminal and anti-social behaviour but other citizens are not immune from being targeted to feed the illegal drug habits.

On Saturday, I visited our local park and playground with my pre-school grandchildren. Well, what should I find as I patrolled ahead of the little ones? A needle lying on the ground. A needle likely obtained “free” at the consumption site and brought there by an addict. Contrary to what has been suggested, I did not “blow up” this incident on social media. Nor did I do any such thing with the needles we have found in our back alley of late.

But I do take exception to the ARCHES managing director’s statement, “Every single needle is being reported and made a very large deal out of ...” Yes, this time, I am making “a very large deal out of [it].” I do not want my grandchildren or anyone else to suffer serious health problems (maybe for life) because they accidentally came into contact with a contaminated needle. These dangerous needles are all over the place. There is no need to exaggerate.

Robin Dann

Lethbridge