Pubdate: Tue, 05 Apr 2016
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.ottawacitizen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author: Andrew Duffy
Page: A3

INJECTION-SITE PROPONENTS UNDETERRED BY OPPOSITION

Bid will go ahead even without local officials' blessing, health centre says

Officials at the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre intend to pursue 
their plan to open a safe-injection service in downtown Ottawa even 
if the proposal is ultimately rejected by city council.

"We are very open to continuing the dialogue locally with city 
council or the board of health, but if local officials can't or won't 
provide letters of support for us, we just have to accept that and 
move on," health centre executive Rob Boyd told reporters Monday.

Boyd made his comments as the centre launched a month-long series of 
public consultations on its proposal for a safe-injection site. It 
wants to add an injection service - with room for up to six drug 
users - to its existing cluster of medical and social services for 
people at high risk of contracting HIV and hepatitis C.

The facility must receive a federal exemption from the Controlled 
Drugs and Substances Act in order to operate. As part of the 
application process, it must submit letters from the mayor, the 
police chief and the medical officer of health, among others.

Both Mayor Jim Watson and police Chief Charles Bordeleau have voiced 
their opposition to the idea.

The Sandy Hill Community Health Centre has applied for a research 
grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, which could 
finance the service's initial operation. Ongoing funding - estimated 
at $250,000 to $300,000 a year - would have to come from the province.

The provincial government hasn't committed to funding a site in 
Ottawa. Three years ago, the Ontario government rejected the idea of 
a safe-injection service in Toronto, but Health Minister Eric Hoskins 
recently vowed that new proposals will be considered in light of 
changes on the federal scene.

The Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has endorsed 
harm reduction, and earlier this year it approved Canada's second 
safe-injection site in Vancouver.

Boyd said the service is desperately needed in Ottawa.

"This is almost like an emergency department type of thing for people 
who inject drugs," he said. "It's really trying to address the most 
egregious parts of injection drug use: public injecting, overdose, 
HIV and hepatitis C."

The idea, he said, is to provide people with a hygienic place to 
inject their drugs and connect them to all of the other services 
available at the health-care centre.

The Sandy Hill Community Health Centre already offers a needle 
exchange program, counselling, and medical and social services to 
about 700 injection drug users in downtown Ottawa.

Watson and the city's medical officer of health, Dr. Isra Levy, were 
unavailable for comment Monday.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom