Pubdate: Thu, 01 Mar 2018
Source: Lethbridge Herald (CN AB)
Copyright: 2018 The Lethbridge Herald
Contact:  http://www.lethbridgeherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/239
Author: Tim Kalinowski
Page: A1

KENNEY OPPOSES CONSUMPTION SITES

United Conservative Party leader Jason Kenney said he would be opposed
to expanding Safe Consumption Sites across the province if elected
premier.

"Helping addicts inject poison into their bodies is not a solution to
the problem of addiction," he said bluntly while visiting Lethbridge
on Wednesday.

Disagreeing with local Lethbridge government, aid organizations and
law enforcement officers who have championed the site, Kenney went on
to state he did not feel safe consumption or injection sites work, as
evidenced by the spike in opioid overdose deaths in Vancouver despite
having a safe injection site in that city for over a decade.

"The 50-plus overdoses (in Lethbridge) in the last couple of days is
obviously because a particularly rancid and toxic shipment of
synthetic drugs has been brought into the region," Kenney said. "The
real question isn't how can we help people poison themselves? The real
question is: How the hell are these synthetic, foreign-produced drugs
hitting the street in Alberta? Why aren't we massively increasing
funding for the Canada's Border Service Agency to interdict the
importation of deadly drugs from China and elsewhere? And why aren't
we giving the police adequate resources to chase down every source in
the criminal world to find out who is dealing poison on the streets of
Lethbridge right now?

"I think the focus should be on interdiction and law enforcement to
keep this stuff off the streets."
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MAP posted-by: Matt