By Lara Fominoff @fomsy1 on Twitter

Fear of used needles and drug dealers a constant in downtown Lethbridge apartment building

Oct 23, 2017 | 1:04 PM

LETHBRIDGE – “The inside of the vestibule here was just covered in leaves and dirty needles The stairs have got drips all over.. all the way up.”
 
For the better part of two years, the old Hotel Dallas/ Coalbanks Inn heritage building in downtown Lethbridge has been home for 59-year old Robert McDougall.
 
He got a room there, after ending up in the local homeless shelter for a period of time, when he and his wife moved from the Crowsnest Pass to Lethbridge to take care of her health issues.
 
“My wife, now deceased, got very sick and she was transported from hospital to hospital. Eventually she was put into a home and we decided that I’d pack up all my stuff and move here. I couldn’t find a place, I couldn’t find a job, so I ended up at the shelter.”
 
He wasn’t old enough to move in with his wife, when she was put into a home. So he jumped on the opportunity to get his own apartment when it eventually came up.
 
But it’s certainly not without its share of issues. He says the building’s owner lives in Taber, and is there once or twice a week. McDougall says he’s tried complaining because neighbors who shoot up, smoke or are otherwise intoxicated frequently pass out, leaving items burning. So far, nothing has come of it. While there are smoke detectors, there are no sprinklers in the building, and no cameras in public areas to record potentially illegal activity.
 
“It’s been tense here,” he says. “Especially with all of the drug activity that goes on. People are coming in here all hours of the morning. They’re basically let in, because people that are dealing will come down and let anybody in the building.”
 
Living on the third floor, he says his next door neighbor was an addict, and he would often smell acrid smoke. Methamphetamine was the drug of choice.
 
“He was eventually evicted, but other people were still letting him in. He was still trying to get stuff. We’ve had the police here numerous times for numerous reasons. But a lot of it has been for drugs.”
 
McDougall also believes at least one dealer still lives in the building, but because he’s “very cagey,” police haven’t been able to arrest him yet.
 
“I have to watch my back all the time. Last night I needed to go for a walk and I get down to the second floor and again I smell marijuana. I just get ill. Same thing for the meth [amphetamine]. It’s all the time.
 
“Most of the people here are down and out. This is a high area for drugs, alcoholism. It’s not a good neighborhood.”
 
Asked what he thinks could be done to curb the drug and alcohol issues he sees and experiences on a daily basis, he says he knows police resources are tight, but wishes there were more officers to deter the dealing and public drug consumption.
 
He has also heard of the new safe consumption site opening up, and believes it could help.
 
“I would think it woul help stop the spread of communicable diseases, like especially HIV. ‘Cause I see needles all over the place all the time. An animal walks by, a child and steps on it… it’ll go through a shoe no problem. It’s so dangerous.”
 
McDougall says he distances himself as much as he can, spending his days looking for work.
 
“They [addicts] basically leave me alone. I gotta hand out resumes. Five a day, five days a week. So I can keep up my income support for now. It’s one foot in front of the other. All I can do.”