It was much larger turnout than expected at a West Broadway community meeting on Tuesday. 

Members of the West Broadway community, and people who work in the neighbourhood were invited to attend the event to discuss a variety of topics, everything from drug use to public safety. Almost 200 people attended.

Over the past couple of years, West Broadway (and much of Canada) has seen an increase in the presence and use of high risk, injectable drugs.

"There's a lot of frustration and just sort of confusion about why these things are happening," said West Broadway Community Organization's executive director Greg Macpherson. "We're seeing a larger number of residents using challenging drugs like crystal meth that are dangerous and harmful. It's hard to understand why. It's hard to understand what to do about those things in our community or if we should be doing anything."

According to people in the area, there has also been a rise in the uptick of residents who are living on the streets.

Macpherson says they had a number of professionals on hand to discuss these topics. He hopes this will help community residents feel empowered and to work together to come up with a solution.

They plan to hold another community information session within the next two months.