Businesses weigh in on police drug enforcement in Guelph

After the Guelph Police Service announced a plan to ramp up enforcement on drug use in downtown Guelph, business owners are sharing their thoughts on the plan.

Iside Dallan has owned Apple Salon on Wilson St. in Guelph for nearly thirty years. She's seen first-hand how different the downtown core has become.

“Things have changed for sure and seeing the open drug use is definitely a concern,” Dallan said. “Some of my guests don't feel that comfortable coming downtown as they used to.”

According to police, they receive daily complaints about open drug use downtown and residents not feeling safe in the area. In response, additional officers have been dedicated to the downtown area and where lawful grounds exist, police say they will make arrests and seize controlled substances.

“It's time for change and it's time for us to work together as a community. The citizens of Guelph are quite, I think, they're quite tired of the goings on. I'm really happy that the police are finally starting to intervene,” Dallan said.

Police released information on Tuesday about two Guelph men who were arrested and now face trafficking and drug related charges. Dallan said while there's not a single answer for dealing with addictions, something needed to change.

“They need help and we need to help them. We also need to just come together as a community as we are doing,” Dallan said.

While some businesses support the idea of police arresting people for open drug use. Others say they don't think it's going to make a difference.

“We've definitely had some people who have drug issues come into the store. Sometimes we've had theft,” Shelly Thompson, a staff member at Wild Rose Consignment Clothing on Macdonnell St., said.

Thompson said while the store has dealt with some issues, they have been generally harmless and she thinks arresting users downtown won't help.

“I think it could cause more problems, but I really don't have a solution in mind,” Thompson said.

At least one other business owner, that didn't want to go on camera told CTV News, said without better social services available arresting drug users isn't going to have much of an effect.

Police don't have a time limit on how long they plan to keep this extra enforcement going.