Turning Point plans to reopen discussions about having a downtown location for a supervised drug consumption site in Red Deer.
While the harm reduction group’s address at 4611-50th Ave. was shot down for a CSC location by Red Deer city council after many businesses spoke against it, a provincial study released last week determined it is the best location.
There’s also provincial government funding now available to set up a SCS at Turning Point’s address.
Neither of these things were known last December when city council called public meetings over a possible rezoning of the Turning Point site for a SCS, said executive-director Stacey Carmichael, who wants to put the downtown site back on the table for consideration, along with other options.
She believes that Turning Point was pushed to make its case with the public last December before it was ready.
“I do not mean to be disrespectful” to Red Deer citizens or the city by revisiting the downtown location, Carmichael added, but as part of a 30-year Red Deer organization that’s been trying to reduce social problems, “I feel very passionately that we should have a voice.”
Turning Point plans to start holding more public forums on a SCS in April. Dates and locations will be posted on its website and Facebook sites.
“I would like people to know that we have never put in an application for a SCS site of any kind,” added Carmichael. She wants to submit an application now, but was told there’s a half-year waiting period.
The city’s planning manager, Emily Damberger, explained the Municipal Government Act does not allow an issue that’s already gone to a public hearing to be heard within six months. This means a downtown site application could not be made until mid-June.
Red Deer city council approved a portable trailer as a potential SCS site. But Turning Point can’t apply for this as an interim option until city rules for licensing portables are changed, likely at the end of April.
Turning Point is applying for the federal government exemption needed to legally operate a SCS.
But this can’t be submitted without an approved location. Meanwhile, Carmichael said there have been 13 overdose deaths, so far, this year.
While businesses have complained about a downtown SCS, Carmichael believes drug users are not going to leave the area to go and use a SCS elsewhere — such as the hospital site, which was also approved by the city.
lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com
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