"Safe" Injection Sites?

"Here are the so-called experts in the [federal] government telling us the best thing for us to do is to hand out high-powered pharmaceutical opioids to the drug addicts, that are two to five times more powerful than the drugs they get on the street."

"Make it pure pharmaceutical grade and somehow this is better?"

"There's nothing compassionate about leaving somebody intermittently homeless in minus -40 weather, speedballing methamphetamine with fentanyl, and saying that we're just going to let that person sort this out because it's about free choice."

"You can't build a system out of thin air. It is a huge culture shift. Even the creation of Recovery Alberta -- it's in the name, 'recovery' -- we're changing the way we're thinking about mental health and addiction from its fundamental assumptions for the past 25 years."

Alberta Mental Health and Addiction Minister, Dan Williams

 

"Our first priority must always be protecting our communities, especially when it comes to the most innocent and vulnerable."

"People are not going to die. They are going to get access to services. I do not call watching people inject an illicit drug, health care in the province of Ontario."

"We need to do better and we can do better."

Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones 

The supervised drug consumption site run by Somerset West Community Health Centre in Ottawa will be forced to shut down in March. It may apply to become one of the province's new 'HART hubs,' part of the Ontario government's shift away from harm reduction. (Sam Konnert/CBC)

 

Ontario is now moving toward 'doing better' by heeding the cries of residents who decry the operation of 'safe injection sites' in neighbourhoods that have been affected by rising crime reflecting these operations and in particular the placement of many of these sites in close proximity to schools. There is also the considerable dysfunction of their presence attracting illicit drug dealers to the area of the sites to conduct business. And then, the undeniable reality of site 'clients' trading their 'free drugs' on the street for more potent drugs to give them a desired high, thus increasing the availability of drugs on the street.

Supervised consumption sites situated within 200 metres of schools and childcare centres are now being closed down by the Ontario government. This shift in policy will see ten of 17 supervised consumption sites cross-province being shut down. The health minister explained that parents concerned for the safety of their children around these consumption sites has motivated the government to finally act. Citing the increase by 146 percent of violent crime near one particular site.

Not unexpectedtly this announcement took consumption and treatment services personnel by outraged surprise. It took them little time to respond with the warning that the move would inevitably lead to greater numbers of deaths by overdose. Alongside the closure of these sites the government announced prohibition of any new supervised consumption sites from opening, let alone further participation in federal funding for safer supply initiatives. 

A twin announcement of a $378-million investment in 19 new homelessness and addiction recovery treatment hubs to provide primary care; mental health services; addiction care support; social services and employment support; shelter and transition beds; supportive housing; and other supplies and services, including naloxone, failed to impress critics of the wholesale government 'safe supply' restructuring initiative.

"We are gravely concerned that the decision to defund and close consumption and treatment services will have devastating consequences for our community."

"Our services save lives by providing a safe space. That is what consumption and treatment services were designed to do, to reverse overdoses and prevent deaths and connect people to the services they need. Consumption and treatment services are a cornerstone of harm reduction."

Suzanne Obiorah, executive director, Somerset West Community Health Centre, Ottawa

"The announced steps mean unsafe communities, more deaths, overwhelmed emergency services and spiking health-care costs, and leave nurses wondering who the government is trying to serve."

Doris Grinspun, head, Registered Nurses Association of Ontario

The answer to that is quite simply; the government serves all. The placement of the 'harm reduction sites' that are scheduled to close, has been harmful to the communities they are contained in. Violent crime has risen exponentially, so has property damage and theft, drug paraphernalia litters the streets, and fears for the welfare of area children abound. Proximity to schools sees drug users verbally abusing schoolchildren. Inveterate drug users also threaten nearby residents with physical harm. These people too are deserving of the government's concerns.

The Province of Alberta is addressing very similar issues and has dedicated its health system to addressing the issue of mental health, homelessness and drug addiction in a more thoughtful manner. Their Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence will research best practices, analyze data and ensure that evidence-based recommendations for "recovery-oriented systems of care" are undertaken. Their online portal tracks EMS responses, emergency room visits, overdose reversals and deaths.

And nor is this new direction confined to these two provinces alone; the Quebec government has decided to meet demands of the residents of Montreal where a housing project catering to unhoused people with addiction or mental health issues located across from an elementary school, including a supervised drug-use site has locals and parents fed up with its presence. Open drug use and aggressive behaviour are but two of the issues involved at Maison Benoit Labre.

Maison Benoît Labre provides services for people experiencing homelessness in the Saint-Henri neighbourhood. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press)