By Lara Fominoff @LaraFominoff on Twitter

WATCH: Lethbridge’s first safe consumption site could open in days

Feb 23, 2018 | 3:25 PM

LETHBRIDGE – If all goes well, Lethbridge’s first safe consumption site, and the only one in North America with inhalation rooms, could open its doors Feb. 28.

ARCHES Executive Director Stacey Bourque took media and government officials on a tour of the renovated Pulse Nightclub Friday afternoon, and said that on Monday (Feb.26) Health Canada would be there to inspect the facility on 1 Ave South.

“We’ve created a number of different areas for use, for people who use drugs and we’re hoping to be open Wednesday morning if Health Canada issues our exemption on Monday.”

The space so far consists of a reception area, accessible by a door on the west side of the building. The area will be monitored by security cameras and all first-time users will have to sign a ‘code of conduct’ agreement and a questionnaire indicating what drug they will use, and how they intend to use it. They will then go through a door which locks from the inside. There are no in and out privileges.

From there, the user will be in the consumption room that consists of six booths and two separated rooms for smoking or inhaling illicit drugs. All rooms are thoroughly ventilated.

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“We have had a ventilation system mechanically engineered so that we can protect the staff,” explains Bourque. “It was the biggest thing to ensure the occupational health and safety standards are being met so that everybody is safe in the environment that are working here. There are no standards or guidelines unfortunately for something like this in North America, because it doesn’t exist. You know, we’ve done the best we can working with a variety of different entities to ensure we’ve done everything we can… to keep people safe.”

Once the addict/user is finished, they will move to an observation room, where nurses and other staff can medically monitor them for 10 to 15 minutes to ensure they don’t overdose. If there is an overdose, the nurses are equipped with a “crash cart” on site to administer oxygen and to hopefully reduce the number of times they must administer naloxone. However, naloxone kits are readily available for those who require it and 911 will be called in minutes if that doesn’t work either. Bourque says that if someone overdoses in one of the inhalation rooms, there is an emergency system set up and nurses can put on masks and respond to those people as well.

If the user is OK, they can then go to the common area, which has two showers, several washrooms, a kitchen, lounge area, laundry area, and a cultural activities room. They can engage in formal or informal counselling appointments, visit with staff and request other services as well. Any drugs left behind by a user will be confiscated and put into a vault, and police will be called to dispose of them. No one may leave drugs at the facility and come back for them later. The day the new facility opens, teams will be also at Lethbridge’s emergency shelter and other locations, letting addicts know about the safe consumption site, directing them there. 

For those saying ARCHES is enabling users and adding to the problem, Bourque explains that drugs are in every community.

“Supervised consumption facilities exist across the world. There’s approximately 100 of them that exist not only in north America, but a heavy concentration across western Europe. No facility has any reports or any research that’s conducted that indicates that it brings more consumption or that it… causes degradation of neighborhoods. It actually reports the opposite.”

Lethbridge Mayor Chris Spearman was on the tour, and added that the city is continuing to work on the drug problem in the city.

“It was the number one complaint we received in the city in 2017. People were saying ‘there’s a lot of drug use in the City of Lethbridge, you’re not doing anything about it.’ What we’re trying to do is respond to what citizens have told us. They don’t want to see visible drug use in the city, they don’t want drug debris all over the place, and they want to feel safe in the downtown and other places.”

Spearman adds that he’s proud of the work done by ARCHES and the members of the city’s opioid coalition.

$2 Million in funding was provided by the provincial government in 2017, and the renovations so far have cost about $1 Million. Environment Minister Shannon Phillips says when the site opens, it will be an historic day.

Lethbridge Police Inspector Tom Ascroft hopes that the consumption site will get addicts out of places like public parks, the downtown area and the public library, and will help the public feel safer.

“If we are able to get some of that activity off the street, it’s certainly going to reduce our calls for service, and it’s going to allow us time to do other things that need to be done in the community.”

He adds that going after drug traffickers rather than addicts, is a better use of police resources.

There are around 3,000 addicts and users in and around Lethbridge, and Bourque says their old facilities handled hundreds of addicts per month. She expects the new consumption site will easily be able to handle current demands.