Lethbridge City Hall. (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Lethbridge councillor proposes addictions study & relief for impacted businesses

Sep 4, 2019 | 12:12 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – City Councillor Jeffrey Coffman introduced two motions at Tuesday’s council meeting regarding addictions, drug use, and potential relief.

The first was to hire a qualified researcher to launch a study into the question, “Why does Lethbridge have so many people suffering with substance addictions?”

Coffman says he wants to look into the root causes of why the city has a higher rate of drug addiction than other similar communities as he believes there is more than one root cause.

“What we’re looking for then here is the research that actually identifies the specific, or more specific areas, that would permit us the opportunity to go to the province, go to the federal government and say, ‘Here are the issues.’ You start dealing with those and we can be more proactive as opposed to reactive in this crisis.”

His ask to council would have a maximum of $74,500 spent on the study, which would come from a source identified by the city manager.

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Several members of council, including Belinda Crowson, Blaine Hyggen, and Ryan Parker, asked why the City of Lethbridge should be paying for research like this when healthcare is not a municipal issue.

They also inquired into whether or not any similar studies have already been done or are in the process of being done.

Coffman specified that the provincial government’s review into supervised consumption services does not attempt to look into the root causes of addiction, and is therefore not trying to do the same as this proposed study.

In the end, council instructed the city manager to look into other research that is specific to Lethbridge. This will likely inform their decision as to whether the city should spend money on a study of their own. The city manager is expected to report back to council in two week’s time.

Coffman’s second motion was to look into options for providing relief to business owners in the warehouse district in the upper east side neighbourhood that have been impacted by the drug crisis.

“For me, it was very much about bringing forward something where we can look at some form of relief, not necessarily through taxation, but perhaps through programs or some sort of rebate to help support businesses that are struggling through this as well in terms of added costs or additional things they’ve had to do during the crisis.”

The exact definition of the warehouse district is a little shaky, but it is generally defined as the area just east of the downtown core near Highway 3.

Just like with the addictions study, some members of council took issue with the costs of this measure going to the municipality, even though it is the federal or provincial governments’ responsibility.

“This is not our jurisdiction, but it’s our problem, and to step up and take as much care of our community as we can is our priority,” says Coffman. “Just because other orders of government have the responsibility and jurisdiction, doesn’t necessarily mean we can’t step in where they’re not.”

This matter got a tied four-to-four vote from council. Councillors Crowson, Coffman, Parker, and Mark Campbell were in favour, while Mayor Chris Spearman and Councillors Jeff Carson, Rob Miyashiro, and Blaine Hyggen were opposed. Councillor Joe Mauro was not present and was therefore unable to vote.

A tied vote essentially means the motion was defeated.