Appalled at SCS site choice

By Letter to the Editor on January 24, 2019.

I have been a Medicine Hat resident and business owner for almost five years and I can truly say that I have enjoyed my time here, and believe this to be a great community. However, the announcement of the location of the supervised consumption site at 502 S. Railway St. SE has me extremely frustrated and appalled.

I cannot understand why this site would be located right in the middle of a thriving commercial and residential area. I am not against SCSs but to deny the ramifications of this site on the immediate surrounding area is ignorant and irresponsible. Surely the site can be located where it is not surrounded on three sides by businesses and homes.

I have found many articles that outline the struggles the communities hosting these sites have endured. These struggles include increases in crime, needles, other garbage, drug deals, people passed out, vomit and other negative effects. I would hope this would have been taken into consideration when choosing the site here it Medicine Hat, but sadly that appears to not have been the case.

To put a this site beside a business is absurd, to put it beside someone’s home is appalling.

Brian Kyle

Medicine Hat

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