Medicine Hat woman creates petition to fight suspension of new supervised consumption sites

A woman who lost her son to a fentanyl overdose starts an online petition to restore funding to a proposed supervised consumption site. The Alberta government suspended funding until a review is done of existing sites, following concerns about crime surrounding the services.

ALBERTA (660 NEWS) — The mother of an overdose victim is hoping to reverse Premier Jason Kenney’s decision to suspend funding for new supervised consumption sites.

When she first heard the news, Kym Porter was angry.

“We were horrified, I was heartbroken, I was frustrated, I was hurt and full of angst,” Porter explained. “I think Mr. Kenney is making an ethically and morally wrong decision. Our dead can no longer speak and we need to do what we can to keep our community alive.”

Kym Porter’s son Neil is pictured here. He died from a drug overdose three years ago. Source: Kym Porter

Porter lost her son Neil to a drug overdose nearly three years ago and is leading the charge.

“My son no longer has a voice.

There’s a number of vulnerable people in the community that don’t have the ability to have their voices heard,” she said. “That’s part of what I want to do and that’s part of what our group is doing.”

Now she has created a petition on Change.org to raise awareness of the need for supervised consumption sites.

“When you don’t have a supervised consumption site your whole city becomes a consumption site, I believe this to be true,” she said. “It’s not about just going in there to use drugs, it’s about making connections with supports in your community.”

While the newly elected government is launching a review of the province’s existing supervised drug-use sites, no new sites will be built.

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