Saskatoon announces plan to deal with crystal meth problem

The city of Saskatoon is starting a coordinated action plan to deal with the fast rising crystal meth and opioid crisis the city is facing.

The partnership includes the City of Saskatoon, Saskatoon police, Saskatoon Fire Department,  the city’s post secondary institutions and indigenous groups like the Central Urban  Metis Federation Incorporated (CUMFI), among others.

“I have a great deal of hope about our ability as a community to rally and to bring this together,” said Mayor Charlie Clark.

“So many of the things that are affected whether it’s the treatment, the health system, the justice system, the social services ministry are under the provincial mandate and so we will not succeed if we don’t work together.”

The Safe Community Action Alliance (SCAA), an intersectoral collaboration initiated in 2017 by the mayors office and the board of police commissioners to address community safety, has outlined four targets to deal with the crisis.

They want to establish a drug court in Saskatoon, create crystal meth and fentanyl-specific treatment options, create more 24/7 safe places for youth and establish a more coordinated system of outreach services.

Clark says there isn’t currently a price tag in place for these initiatives but they are in the midst of conversations with the provincial government to make progress on them.

“I think the reason there are no price tags is some of it is just a reorganizing of existing resources, some of it around treatment we will need additional resources and it’ll take some conversations with the provincial government to figure that out so we don’t have a price tag,” he said.

“What we do know is it’s costing a huge amount in emergency hospital beds, in ambulance trips, in incarcerated people being more likely to cause more crime when they come out as a result of the way the system is working now. So what I’d like to see is us spend the resources more wisely to reduce and prevent some of the costs that are coming onto our system.”

As a member of the community, Shirley Isbister, president of CUMFI, has been aware of these problems for a long time and is ready for steps to be taken towards fixing it.

“I’m an action person so I find the process of meetings and reports to be not in my wheelhouse. We have known these challenges for a long time so having the community on board is going to be very important for how we move forward,” she said.

“I mean we’ve tried prior to this to open up a home for crystal meth moms. That’s where I want to start because we also have the effects of all the children that are in foster care and we are having those children come to our homes. You have all these children facing grief loss and trauma and so when I look at the first step that I want to move forward on, it’s moms whose children are in care due to crystal meth.”

The SCAA’s full report and recommendations will be released next month but work will begin immediately on the four main targets they outlined.