Supervised consumption limbo hinders social study on Medicine Hat

By GILLIAN SLADE on January 10, 2020.

gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade

The conclusion of a University of Lethbridge study about social issues in Medicine Hat is on hold.

The study that began last summer asked people questions such as what they liked about their neighbourhood, when last someone did drugs near their business, the last time a car was broken into, or if they felt unsafe in their neighbourhood, said Em Pijl, assistant professor faculty of health sciences.

The study area was bordered by River Road, Ash Avenue, Pringle Street, Hill Road, Sixth Street SE, along Third Avenue and back to the river.

Pijl says the study is now on hold pending a provincial government announcement. Whether a supervised consumption site is still planned for Medicine Hat would potentially affect the responses from people in the study and therefore ways to mitigate those issues as well.

Pijl says there are a wide range of experiences and emotions when people talk about a city’s downtown area. Many cities have worked to rejuvenate their downtown areas but so far little has been published about how social issues affect people.

A similar study, specifically in the area directly surrounding the supervised consumption site, was undertaken in Lethbridge. The results of that study were given to the city of Lethbridge this week but will not be made public until after it is presented to council, said Andrew Malcolm, urban revitalization manager for the City of Lethbridge.

Last month however, that city’s council approved $1.6 million for a “downtown clean and safe strategy (DCSS).” Malcolm says this was not a direct result of the study.

“That being said the DCSS was prepared and recommended based on much of the same data that Dr. Pijl would have used for her study as well as some of the initial findings and observations shared by Dr. Pijl,” said Malcolm. “The study will be an important document for us as it established baseline data before the supervised consumption site, after a year of (the site) … as well as baseline data largely before the mitigation initiatives of the DCSS.”

Malcolm suggests a similar study in a year or two would enable Lethbridge to evaluate the success of the DCSS.

Pijl is working together with Kristen Desjarlais-Deklerk at Medicine Hat College on the local study, which receives funding from the City of Medicine Hat.

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