Progress or band-aid solution? Community weighs in on Guelphs downtown drug crackdown [Video]

Downtown Guelph continues to be the focal point for concerns about drug use and its impact on local businesses.

Arun Kahyap, the owner of Wimpy’s Diner, finds it challenging to monitor the restaurant’s washrooms when they get busy.

“[People are] just going in there and injecting themselves,” Kashyap explained, adding that rampant drug use in the downtown core has been palpable. “I have seen a lot of difficulty when cops and paramedics keep coming in here. And it’s it obviously impacting the business and the customer is always like: ‘What is going on?'”

The city’s police force launched a safety initiative in late October to address the issue. While it resulted in over 60 arrests, criminal charges didn’t necessarily follow.

“The vast majority of those arrests, the people who were arrested had the illegal substances seized from them, and then were released without any charges being laid,” explained Scott Tracey, …