Opioid recovery camps to begin June 25th

An advocate from Lethbridge says he has finally brought forth his vision of what he thinks will help out those who are battling addiction in our city. Alvin Mills says recovery camps will be set up on the Blood Tribe on private land. Blackfoot members will have to be four days sober in order to be able to come in. They will stay at the camps for a week and listen to elders who will educate them more on traditional Blackfoot culture. There will be a staff of eight people with a peer support based approach. Mills says these camps are a long time coming and the first camp will begin on June 25th.

“Participants will be subject to opioid dependency urinalysis. They’ve gone through the fire, they’ve lived through the ones out here that are struggling. What they went through you can’t teach it. They’ve been through hardship.”

The funding for the camps comes from the Canadian government. The City of Lethbridge will be administering the funds for the camps to the tune of $120,000. The money will help pay for the operational costs of keeping the camps going.