By Letter to the Editor on July 23, 2018.
A supervised consumption site in Medicine Hat is an example of the Harm Reduction Strategy that Alberta Health Services uses when dealing with drug addiction. Everyone agrees that we have a drug problem in Medicine Hat and harm reduction is the best way to deal with it. We have the Medicine Hat Recovery Centre and now we need to do the next step which of course is the supervised consumption site. It should be where the people are doing drugs anyways, so instead of them doing drugs in parks, and other public places, people can do it in a safe place with wrap around services. It seems logical to me. Why have needles, and other drug stuff, all over the place when you can have it in one spot? Hopefully people will find their way out of drug addiction but in the meantime at least they are not dying in our parks. I don’t think it matters why people are addicted to drugs either, they just are. People have demons, some people have been abused, there has been family violence, who knows. It is not up to us or society to judge. There but for the Grace of God go I. Diane MacNaughton Medicine Hat 7