A safe injection site was on the council table during Tuesday’s (May 11) Smithers regular council meeting.
Mayor Gladys Atrill spoke on the issue calling it thought provoking and what can be done as a small community.
Northern Health has witnessed an increase in drug overdoses since the COVID-19 pandemic including in the Smithers region.
Mayor Gladys Atrill said rural communities continue to have the same problem as urban centres but it is just the number of people that is different.
“It’s interesting to have this brought to us by a young person in town suggesting that we have a role as well into the creation of more hard sites for harm reduction,” she said.
Councillor Lorne Benson added that a safe injection site may not succeed due to the possibility of being identified, charged or convicted.
According to Benson, if there was decriminalization then the Town could have the possibility of moving forward with different initiatives.
Meanwhile, Atrill also said she isn’t sure if this is something that is not in the Town of Smithers wheelhouse.
“We have people in the community who suffer. Those of us who participated in the social service call over the last year have heard this, that people are overdosing on allies, people are suffering from increasingly toxic drugs,” she said.
Atrill added that the number of people suffering from drug use is low to small populations, the percentage is high.
According to Atrill, the idea of safe injection sites is something that council should seriously consider.
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