Addicts have to want to be treated

Consumption site serves important role, says MLA

Lethbridge East MLA Maria Fitzpatrick acknowledges more needs to be done do to help create a better transitional environment of detox and ongoing treatment for drug addicts in city. More detox beds are needed, more staff with expertise in treating drug addictions is needed, and more supportive housing and long-term care is needed, but one component which cannot be calculated on a budget brief, says Fitzpatrick, is the desire for an individual suffering with addiction to want to get healthy.

“I came out of a career of 30-plus years in federal corrections, and I know there is a process in terms of dealing with addictions,” said Fitzpatrick. “I agree addicts are traumatized, but there is way more to it than the trauma. If one is to be treated, they have to be engaged in that treatment. And one comes to that point when one comes to that point. That’s very personal, and when an addict is ready to do it — that is when they are ready to do it.”

The Supervised Consumption Site’s role is to keep people alive until they can come to that point of decision, says Fitzpatrick. It is not a cure for addiction — and Fitzpatrick firmly believes the city would be far worse off without it during this current drug crisis.

“With treatment centres, setting those up is not something you can do overnight,” she says. “If you waited to open the Supervised Consumption Site until that happened, we would have a much greater number of people dead in this city.”

Fitzpatrick says the site was only ever intended to be a stop-gap measure used for this very specific purpose, with referrals to other levels of detox and treatment options to follow. She agrees it has been overburdened since opening, and has unfairly born the brunt of criticism from the public which wants the government to move faster to get addicts into treatment and off the streets.

And despite opening eight more medically-assisted detox beds in Lethbridge in the past two weeks, and currently operating 74 community addictions beds around southern Alberta, Fitzpatrick agrees more needs to be done.

“If I could snap my fingers and make beds happen, then I would do it,” she says. “But to actually get treatment beds, you need a place. You need people who are going to be able to staff it. You need people that have the skillset to do the treatment within that facility. You can’t just pull those people off the street to do it, and you can’t put somebody into treatment until they are really ready to do it, and they are committed. And sometimes that means they may have to go to detox a couple of times.”

Fitzpatrick says she continues to advocate for her constituents to get the services and funding they need for these necessary supports up in Edmonton.

“I can only tell you that the Health Ministry has heard from both Shannon Phillips and myself about how bad the situation is,” she confirms. “They have heard from the mayor. Last week (Finance Minister) Joe Ceci was here and he met with the mayor, and that was the first issue on the table. The minister said they have talked about it in cabinet, so it is not like they aren’t aware of it. However, he is coming up with his budget and I expect that there is going to be something which is happening.”

The Herald reached out to the offices of Lethbridge West MLA Phillips, the Minister of Health and Alberta Health Services South Zone for comment , but all stated they could not make any spokesperson available prior to press time on Friday.

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