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Letter: 24/7 shelter in Red Deer will add to drug problems

This letter is regarding Stand Up For A Safe Community and their advocacy for a 24/7 shelter for people actively using drugs in public places.
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This letter is regarding Stand Up For A Safe Community and their advocacy for a 24/7 shelter for people actively using drugs in public places.

This, coming after years of the political establishment of Red Deer failing to address this problem and its companion: crime. Lets not forget that it has been nearly a decade after a methadone clinic came to Red Deer to address the drug problem. In that same time frame, Red Deer became a leader in Canada for crime, for contrary to what our leaders would like us to believe, it was not the oil crash of 2015 that saw Red Deer emerge as one of the leading cities in Canada for crime.

In a poll just several weeks ago conducted by the Red Deer Advocate; the majority of responders said they do not not want a supervised drug consumption site for Red Deer; but this is what the province wants placed in our community, not a treatment centre.

I believe a majority would also be opposed to providing shelter 24/7 for addicts. Sheltering and enabling an addiction will not result in lessening the problem. It will actually add to it for it will encourage the old adage; if you build it, they will come.

The homeless have turned much of the beautiful green areas and parks of Red Deer into a disgusting experience for many. By setting up their camps and discarding their trash wherever they like, they have created risks for the general public.

Cleaning up discarded needles and homeless camps by the city is not helping, as there are no consequences for those creating the problem. Why should they? No cost to them. But it is an ever increasing cost to the city, and a proposal to shelter addicts will only add to it.

Ted Johnson, Red Deer