Pubdate: Tue, 10 Jan 2017
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2017 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Authors: David Rider and Jennifer Pagliaro
Page: A1

INJECTION SITES OKAYED FOR T.O.

City will begin hiring staff immediately and start on renovations for
three centres to be funded by the province

Overdose deaths of more than 250 Torontonians a year is a preventable
"epidemic," the city's public health boss declared as Ontario agreed to
fund supervised drug-injection services at three sites.

The opioid crisis "is having a devastating impact on individuals, on their
families and on our community," Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Toronto's acting
medical officer of health, warned at an inaugural monthly meeting after
marshalling those involved in the struggle, including police and drug
users.

Hours before the gathering, Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins confirmed
the province will pay to install and operate sites at three health centres
where users will inject their own illegal drugs under medical supervision.

"I believe that community-supported and community-run supervised injection
services will not only save lives, but also must be part of a larger
strategy for harm reduction and supports for people struggling with
addiction," Hoskins said in a statement.

Yaffe applauded the news, saying the city will immediately hire staff and
begin renovations at the following sites:

The Toronto Public Health-operated needle exchange at Yonge and Dundas Sts.

Queen West Central Toronto Community Health Centre on Bathurst St.

South Riverdale Community Health Centre near Carlaw Ave.

She expects it will be "several months" before the centres can get the
required inspection and approval by Health Canada to open as Canada's
first safe-injection sites since Vancouver's Insite launched in 2003.

Research specific to Toronto has shown such sites would effectively serve
existing clients of the health centres and would prevent drug use in
public areas - alleys, coffee shop bathrooms and parks - that are today
home to the hazards of discarded needles. Following a plan led by Toronto
Public Health, Toronto council backed the three sites in a near unanimous
vote in July. The city earlier asked the province pay $1.8 million for
annual operating expenses plus $350,000 in one-time funds for renovations.

Leigh Chapman, a registered nurse whose brother, Brad, died of a suspected
fentanyl overdose in 2015, said a full effort to halt such deaths is
overdue, and that the crisis has been long-overlooked because Torontonians
don't consider addicts part of society.

"We've said that drug users are less than other people . . . and people
are dying as a result," said Chapman, whose brother was a father of three
and veteran intravenous druguser who lived in shelters before being found
overdosing in the doorway of a downtown nail salon. "We should see these
people as ill, as vulnerable as needing help."

Zoe Dodd, of the South Riverdale centre, was among those representing more
than 20 agencies and advocates at the meeting to ensure Toronto does not
experience the wave of overdose deaths seen in British Columbia, primarily
fuelled by a spike in the use of fentanyl - a painkiller up to 100 times
more toxic than morphine.

"We have lost a number of people attached to the community here and also
our own co-workers have overdosed and died this year," Dodd said in an
interview. "Although we are not seeing people dropping dead on the street,
people are dying behind closed doors in their apartments and in supportive
housing and shelters. We have to be realistic that a crisis is already
here."

Yaffe said ending stigma around drug abuse is one solution, along with
making opioid antidote naloxone kits available to everyone including
users, their friends and families, who should not fear legal trouble if
they call 911.

Data gleaned from the Ontario coroner's office suggests at least 253
people in the city fatally overdosed in 2015, down slightly from a record
high in 2014.

The deaths involving fentanyl, however, surged from 23 to 42 in that
single year. Officials say carfentanil, an even deadlier veterinary drug,
is on Toronto streets.

Anecdotal evidence suggests the epidemic got worse in 2016 and is
continuing to spread, said Yaffe, who called the coroner's data "kind of
late."

The experts agreed Monday they need "real time" overdose information to
devise targeted solutions. Some argued for a password-protected online
"dashboard" where those involved in the fight can instantly trade
information and raise alerts, augmenting an existing portal where drug
users can anonymously post information and warnings.

Drug users often don't know they are ingesting fentanyl, which can halt
breathing and require life-saving efforts within two or three minutes,
because sellers are mixing it with heroin and other drugs.

Councillor Joe Cressy, who chairs Toronto's drug strategy implementation,
said the city is proposing a pilot project with Health Canada and
hospitals so drugs can be quickly analyzed at safe-injection sites. Users
would know exactly what they are shooting up while nurses would know how
to prevent their overdoses

Toronto will soon release the first phase of a multi-pronged "overdose
action plan," said Cressy, advocating drug treatment resources alongside
safe-injection sites so addicts can get help "if and when" they are ready.

"If I had siblings I wouldn't want them to use drugs but, if they did, I
would want them to stay alive long enough to access treatment," he said.
"That's the Toronto model we're developing here."

He welcomed Hoskins's funding announcement, after previously noting the
lack of guaranteed provincial funding was the only real obstacle to
getting safe-injection sites operating in Toronto.
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