Downtown drug use problems are spreading, and are now affecting kids using the outdoor pool.
Ricky Millns, head coach of the Salmon Kings swim club, wrote a letter to council last month outlining the issues the club has faced so far this year.
“It’s quite different than what we’ve seen in previous years,” he says. “You occasionally would get the odd person coming in and doing stuff that you don’t want the kids seeing, but it wasn’t a repetitive issue like it is this year and like it has been for the last few weeks.”
He says after weeks of cleaning up broken glass and needles, he was prompted to contact council after a person overdosed just a few metres away from a young swimmer waiting for a ride after practice. His letter was reviewed by council last week before they voted to give third reading to a bylaw amendment, which will prohibit drug use in certain public places, including Centennial Park.
The Swim Kings are hosting a meet this weekend in the park. Millns says they have had to hire private security to make sure it’s safe for swimmers and their families.
There are 115 swimmers in the club between 5 and 18 years old.
Council will give final consideration to an amendment to the public nuisance bylaw which will restrict public drug use at a meeting later this summer.
