Substance Use Summit provides takeaways for mayor and police chief

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on September 11, 2024.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

Mayor Blaine Hyggen and Lethbridge Police Chief Shahin Mehdizadeh recently participated at the Municipal Leadership on Substance Use Summit, which took place in Timmins, Ontario last week.
“Chief Mehdizadeh and myself were invited to sit in two different panels to discuss some of the things that we’re doing within our community around addictions,” said Hyggen.
“Unfortunately substance use and substance abuse is rampant across the country. Not just the country, its worldwide, it’s a struggle in every level.”
Hyggen said while in Timmins they had the opportunity to tour the community and were able to witness what they are dealing with.
“Everybody does struggle with addictions in their communities. Getting together as municipal leaders and police chiefs, we were able to share best practices on what’s happening in other communities and how we can better serve those most vulnerable within our communities,” said Hyggen.
He said something that was talked about a lot by many community leaders was compassion and meeting people where they are at.
“We spoke a lot about recovery and the amount of dollars that the province of Alberta is investing in recovery and just the latest news is showing that the there is a drop in overdose deaths,” said Hyggen.
 He said they hope that is attributed to having a recovery-based approach in Alberta.
“I would dare say that Alberta does have much more services, in my opinion, than other areas across the country when it comes to recovery. Others focus a little more, maybe more on the harm reduction side,” said Hyggen.
He said one of those services is the Virtual Overdose Dependency Program (VODP) which connects people by phone with the services they need.
“A lot of people say ‘what if you don’t want recovery,’ that number and those folks will connect you with the services that can help you to return to a life of sobriety. And let’s face it, we all deserve that life,” said Hyggen.
Chief Mehdizadeh also highlighted that program and how much it has assisted LPS officers in helping those who require help.
“For the first time, the police is actually actively connecting people to treatment. We’ve never had that before. Before the VODP, it was just a matter of putting cuffs on people, throwing them in jail, and they would come out and go right back into that cycle,” said Mehdizadeh.
He said now days whenever those struggling with addictions end up in their cell block, LPS officers are actively trying to connect them with treatment if they choose to take that treatment.
“We have many programs, our PACT unit, our Watch program, both our CPOs and police officers who are much better trained to try to help these individuals and hopefully break that cycle.”
 Mehdizadeh added that there are two components when it comes to addiction. One is the people who are already addicted to drugs and need the help and care to hopefully get them out of that lifestyle. But there is also a component of stopping the trend in the future.  
 “It is really investing in our youth and other components that the whole city can partner and try to actually stop the spread of this event in the future.”
Mehdizadeh added that it is very important for police agencies to be involved in the various communities efforts to reduce substance use and substance abuse among their residents.
“Police needs to be part of these discussions because when things don’t workout the way they should, all the pressure goes on the police to deal with the chaos that was left behind.”

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