Red Deer city council to push government through AUMA for provincial needle debris strategy

Council passed a resolution on Monday that will be presented for debate at the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) Convention in September. The resolution states that the Government of Alberta is the source of needle distribution and as such needs to fund cleanup efforts.

“Red Deer city council, about three of four years ago, submitted our drug and alcohol strategy to the provincial government and asked for its full implementation,” Mayor Tara Veer explained.

“We are in the middle of a national addictions crisis where we certainly feel the consequences of addictions locally and we need a strong provincial response. Our local strategy identifies education, intervention, harm reduction and safety efforts as being essential to get ahead of the curve and to resolve what ultimately is a life and death crisis.”

Veer says The City of Red Deer has gone to great lengths to ensure public safety as it relates to needle debris. The rough sleeper encampment team cleans up needles, as do public works and parks staff, and in a more astounding waste of resources, Veer says, ambulances have been directed to pick up syringes.

“Our primary concern is in terms of the safety component. We recognize the province is distributing them in terms of a harm reduction effort. However, the unintended consequence is needle debris that is proliferating,” she adds.

Councillor Vesna Higham, who moved the motion on Monday, concurred.

“It was important that council declare, so that our citizens understand, that Red Deer doesn’t distribute the needles. We have no say or control over how many needles are distributed or in the manner in which distribution takes place, ie. a needle exchange,” Higham remarked.

“There’s that misconception out there that The City is distributing the needles. The province distributes them and we are left to pick up the fallout because there is no province-wide protocol.”

Higham also noted needles are being handed out just individually, but sometimes in packs of up to a dozen.

Turning Point oversees needle distribution in Red Deer. Executive Director Stacey Carmichael was asked about the cons of a needle exchange program.

said, “People would be less likely to use clean syringes, the presence of communicable diseases would increase, and police do take peoples’ supplies or they get stolen,” she said, adding that would inhibit a person from exchanging needles once used.

Carmichael acknowledges the concerns from residents are valid but, says the risk to public safety from needle debris is still minimal.

“If you or I were to walk through the park, we’re at really low risk of contracting any health issues, whereas if we’re sharing a syringe, we are at a bigger disadvantage.”

Needle sharing has gone down under the current system, according to Carmichael, who says needle distribution from their satellite offices in Alberta Health Services’ Central Zone decreased by 31 per cent in 2018/19 from the prior fiscal year.

In a council agenda report citing the most recent data, it’s noted that distribution in Central Zone went from 422,000 in 2014/15 to 530,000 the following year.

Last year, The City of Red Deer received an $80,000 grant from the province to aid in needle debris cleanup.

by Josh Hall

Red Deer city council to push government through AUMA for provincial needle debris strategy

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