Pubdate: Thu, 23 Mar 2017
Source: Kamloops This Week (CN BC)
Copyright: 2017 Kamloops This Week
Contact:  http://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1271
Authors: Dale Bass and Andrea Klassen

QUESTIONS REMAIN ON DRUG-USE SITES

Business groups and residents on both sides of the river are taking a
wait-and-see approach to news a supervised drug-use clinic will spend
time in their neighbourhoods.

Gay Pooler, general manager of the Kamloops Central Business
Improvement Association (KCBIA), said the location chosen by the
Interior Health Authority for its South Shore location is not one
recommended by her association.

The KCBIA had proposed sites other than Crossroads Inn at Seymour
Street and Sixth Avenue, a facility run by ASK Wellness Centre and the
current location of an overdose-prevention site.

Across the river, Steve Puhallo, executive director of the North Shore
Business Improvement Association (NSBIA), said he is concerned about
the impact the service will have when the RV used for the clinic is
parked in the North Shore business area, outside ASK Wellness at
Tranquille Road and Aspen Street.

However, like Pooler, Puhallo said he is going to wait and see what
flows from the travelling supervised drug-use clinic once the federal
government grants approval.

Both Pooler and Puhallo said their concerns are not rooted in the
creation of the clinic, which will see a modified RV operate Tuesdays
to Saturdays from 11:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., moving according to a
preordained schedule between the two sites.

They understand why the health authority has opted for the service in
response to the province's declaration of a health emergency amid
record overdose-death numbers.

However, they both said they must also protect the interests of their
business improvement members and residents who are key to both market
areas.

Pooler said she is aware ASK Wellness executive director Bob Hughes
has expressed some skepticism about the locations and said she will be
watching for any problems in the area.

Crossroads is not surrounded by many active businesses and, as an ASK
facility, the surrounding neighbours have lived with the fact the
facility serves a marginalized population.

Desert Gardens resident Mae Maxfield said the seniors complex across
the road from Crossroads has struggled to deal with drug-use issues.

She said Desert Gardens' back stairs have been a hot spot for drug use
and sexual activity and have frequently doubled as a public toilet.

Maxfield is hopeful the mobile unit may lead to some
improvements.

Her strata has agreed to fence off access to the stairs and, when
residents met with Interior Health and Kamloops RCMP, they were told
more foot patrols are being planned near the clinic.

"I think we can learn to live with it," Maxfield said. "If we can work
together to make things better, that's what we're trying to do."

Puhallo hopes the service works, but said he will be watching for any
disruption in commercial, retail and residential property values in
the area.

He is also concerned about the proximity between the ASK office and
Spirit Square just behind it, noting the NSBIA is trying to increase
use of the public space that was created from a program then-premier
Gordon Campbell devised in 2010 to celebrate the province's 150th
anniversary as a Crown colony.

"Something like this has never been in a town our size," Puhallo said
of the supervised drug-use clinic.

"The only reference for it is in the [Vancouver] Downtown Eastside and
our concern is will this crash the area?"

The NSBIA's biggest fear is the fate of the now-tamed area, designated
years ago by the RCMP as a red zone, which gave courts enhanced powers
to ban sex-trade workers and others involved in illicit activity.

"This is not about not wanting to help people," Puhallo said, "but we
are concerned about it creating a potential massing effect."

Hughes said the RV will likely be set up in the parking lot behind ASK
Wellness, taking up all available spots for staff.

Mitchell Forgie, owner of Red Beard Cafe, which operates just a few
doors down from ASK Wellness, at Tranquille Road and Yew Street, said
he doesn't see a problem with drugs in the area and thinks the support
services that will be in place around the clinic make a return to the
red-zone days unlikely.

"My only fear is that I believe this project is politically motivated
rather than actually tailored to the needs of users," Forgie said.

"Therefore, if it isn't working, I don't expect it to change or
stop."

Pooler and Puhallo are still awaiting specific details about its
operation, including the size of the RV to be used.
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