(paNOW file photo)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

AUMA Convention

Alberta municipalities support Red Deer’s call for more provincial help with needle debris

Sep 27, 2019 | 1:51 PM

The City of Red Deer used this week’s Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) Conference in Edmonton to bring attention to the province’s drug crisis.

The City put forward a resolution calling for the Government of Alberta to take more responsibility and be more accountable for the clean-up of needle debris.

The motion was approved by the 1100 election officials attending the AUMA conference in Edmonton.

“Crime and community safety are our top priorities, and we need the Provincial Government to implement a province-wide strategy to prevent the proliferation of and to ensure the clean-up and disposal of discarded needle debris,” said Mayor Tara Veer.

“This week, Red Deer city council put forward a resolution that emphasizes this need, highlighting the public health and safety risks and rising cost of needle debris clean-up and disposal. We called on the Provincial Government for accountability for their needle distribution programs.”

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Red Deer’s resolution expresses a desire for the province to provide adequate funding for needle clean-up.

Currently, the province distributes syringes, filters, alcohol swabs, ties, sharps containers and other materials used for injecting drugs. In Red Deer, needles are given out by Turning Point.

In May, Turning Point executive director Stacey Carmichael told rdnewsNOW that needle distribution has gone down 31 per cent in the 2018/19 fiscal year at their satellite offices throughout central Alberta.

The City received $80,000 in 2018 to aid needle clean-up.

The City of Lethbridge presented a resolution at the AUMA Convention calling for a provincial drug strategy focusing on the four pillars of prevention/education, treatment, harm reduction, and enforcement.

A number of other meetings were held at the convention between City of Red Deer representatives and provincial cabinet ministers, including to discuss Red Deer’s policing needs, Red Deer College’s ongoing university transition, and opportunities for The City to work with the province in reducing red tape.

In a Facebook post, Veer stated her meeting with Minister of Advanced Education Demetrios Nicolaides went well and that he expressed the province’s commitment to seeing through university implementation.