Pubdate: Wed, 18 Jan 2017
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.ottawacitizen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author: Andrew Duffy
Page: A3

MAJORITY SUPPORT INJECTION SITE PLAN, POLL FINDS

A new poll suggests most Ottawa residents are in favour of a safe
injection site, even though the seriousness of the opioid crisis has
yet to register with many of them.

The Mainstreet Research poll, conducted for Postmedia, found that 53
per cent of those surveyed support the plan to open a safe injection
site in Ottawa.

The pollsters found that 32 per cent of respondents disapproved of the
idea; 15 per cent offered no opinion.

Officials from the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre have submitted a
proposal to the federal government and hope to open a facility this
spring that would allow clients to take drugs under medical
supervision.

"Ottawans generally approve of seeing safe injection sites in their
city as a tool for harm reduction," said Quito Maggi, president of
Mainstreet Research.

The polling firm surveyed people from 10 Canadian cities on the same
question. Only those in Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver
supported the move to open safe injection sites in their cities.

The highest approval level was recorded in Vancouver (68 per cent),
home to North America's first safe injection site.

Vancouver is now in the grips of a fentanyl crisis that has led to
dramatic rise in the number of overdose deaths.

The Mainstreet poll found that the opioid crisis is poorly understood
in Ottawa. Only 30 per cent of respondents said they have been
following news about the impact of fentanyl, a powerful narcotic now
widely available on the illicit drug market.

What's more, almost half of those polled (49 per cent) in Ottawa said
they thought today's recreational drugs were no more dangerous than
they were three years ago.

Another 14 per cent of respondents said today's drugs were safer; 12
per cent admitted to being unsure about it.

In 2015, fentanyl overdoses killed 418 people in B.C. and Alberta
alone. In Ontario, 162 drug overdose deaths were tied to fentanyl, an
opioid that comes in both prescription and bootleg form.

Prescription fentanyl - used to treat the severe pain of surgery and
cancer - has been available on Ottawa streets for years in the form of
patches and tablets. It can be lethal if abused, but it is the bootleg
variety that has public health officials alarmed.

The fentanyl made in clandestine labs is 30 to 50 times more powerful
than heroin, another white powder.

Powdered fentanyl looks like heroin and is often mixed with the drug -
or sold as oxycodone to unsuspecting buyers - because it's cheaper and
easier to manufacture. But even small doses of fentanyl can shut down
a person's breathing.

To complete its poll, Mainstreet surveyed 599 Ottawa residents using
interactive voice response telephone technology during the first week
of January.

In theory, in 19 cases out of 20, the poll results would not differ by
more than 4.0 percentage points from results obtained by interviewing
every adult in the city.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt