Tell people how to produce pot safely: Health unit If the federal government will let people grow pot in their homes, Health Canada had better explain how to do it safely. That's one of the pieces of advice from Ottawa Public Health, months before marijuana hits the legal retail market and the federal government relaxes cannabis laws across the country. The feds will allow adults to grow up to four marijuana plants in their homes for personal use. Vera Etches, the acting medical officer of health at OPH, wrote to Health Canada earlier this month as the federal agency collected feedback on the proposed cannabis regulations ahead of legalization this summer. [continues 239 words]
OK comes as city, province spar over unsanctioned tent nearby A trailer at the Shepherds of Good Hope became Ottawa's third legal supervised injection site late Monday. Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins announced in a news release that the federal government has approved an exemption permitting Inner City Health Ottawa to operate a sanctioned injection site in the trailer. It becomes the fifth such site funded by the province. Hoskins said the province would provide nearly $500,000 in operating funds. [continues 738 words]
Lowertown location receives exemption Health Canada on Friday granted the necessary exemption for an interim supervised injection site in Lowertown, with Ottawa Public Health planning to greet the first clients on Tuesday. The health unit is using the federal exemption granted to the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre to run the temporary injection facility at 179 Clarence St. David Gibson, executive director of the Sandy Hill health centre, said it's a first to see an interim exemption for an injection site granted to an organization using another organization's exemption. [continues 197 words]
Organization considering how it could transport clients to supervised location The Salvation Army isn't planning a supervised injection site for the shelter and health complex it has proposed for Vanier, but the organization is putting thought into how it could transport clients to those licensed facilities. While the topic has come up in public, Salvation Army spokesman Glenn van Gulik said the organization has no intention of running an injection site if it receives planning approval for the project at 333 Montreal Rd. [continues 557 words]
Lowertown facility to greet first clients next Tuesday Health Canada on Friday granted the necessary exemption for an interim supervised injection site in Lowertown, with Ottawa Public Health planning to greet the first clients on Tuesday. The health unit is using the federal exemption granted to the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre to run the temporary injection facility at 179 Clarence St. David Gibson, executive director of the Sandy Hill health centre, said it's a first to see an interim exemption for an injection site granted to an organization using another organization's exemption. [continues 198 words]
Supervised health unit in Lowertown a temporary solution to ongoing problem The Ottawa Board of Health on Monday night unanimously endorsed a plan by the city's top doctor to set up a temporary supervised injection site in Lowertown at a time when more people are overdosing and ending up in hospital emergency rooms. Isra Levy, the medical officer of health, has already started the legwork to get the site ready at 179 Clarence St., which is an Ottawa Public Health facility, in partnership with the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre. Health Canada received the application for an interim injection site there last Tuesday. [continues 519 words]
Health board approves Lowertown location The Ottawa Board of Health on Monday night unanimously endorsed a plan by the city's top doctor to set up a temporary supervised injection site in Lowertown at a time when more people are overdosing and ending up in hospital emergency rooms. Isra Levy, the medical officer of health, has already started the legwork to get the site ready at 179 Clarence St., which is an Ottawa Public Health facility, in partnership with the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre. Health Canada received the application for an interim injection site there last Tuesday. [continues 476 words]
Mayor Jim Watson on Friday was waiting to learn what the city's role will be in locating government-run weed shops but he already knows they shouldn't be in "inappropriate" areas. "My overriding concerns is to ensure that they're located in the proper locations," Watson said Friday after the province announced its plan to have standalone weed stores run by the LCBO. "The last thing we want to see is a marijuana shop open next to a high school, for instance." [continues 300 words]
A Lowertown park shouldn't be the site of a pop-up supervised injection tent, Mayor Jim Watson said Tuesday, but it's not clear if the city is willing to pull up its stakes if the organizers don't move the health service to the only licensed facility. "My hope is they'll be reasonable, work in a collaborative fashion with the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre that has the legal authority to operate the secure injection site," Watson said in the heart of the By Ward Market, about five blocks from the injection tent at Raphael Brunet Park. [continues 294 words]
The first supervised injection site in the nation's capital could be open within months now that the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre has a conditional approval from Health Canada. The federal government signed off on the health centre's application Wednesday after receiving the request for an injection site last January. Once a followup inspection is done and provincial money comes through, clients will enter one of five injection stations on the first floor of the health centre's facility on Nelson Street and shoot his or her drugs under the supervision of health experts. [continues 576 words]
The first supervised injection site in the nation's capital could be open within months now that the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre has a conditional approval from Health Canada. The federal government signed off on the health centre's application Wednesday after receiving the request for an injection site last January. Once a followup inspection is done and provincial money comes through, clients will enter one of five injection stations on the first floor of the health centre's facility on Nelson St. and shoot his or her drugs under the supervision of health experts. [continues 398 words]
Some ask for prescriptions or medical proof, most don't need documentation It's ridiculously easy to get weed from a storefront in Ottawa today. With the number of pot shops in the city on the upswing, despite multiple dispensary employees facing drug-trafficking charges following police raids, the Citizen visited the city's 17 known cannabis stores to find out how they're screening customers. The dispensaries are, of course, illegal. But when many of them opened in Ottawa, operators stressed their businesses were serving people who needed medical marijuana. [continues 867 words]
Ottawa organization wants to develop packaging, awareness campaigns ahead of legalization The federal government should regulate edible cannabis products at the same time that it legalizes dried pot, plants and cannabis oil, the city's health unit says. Ottawa Public Health wants support from the health board to tell the federal government to develop regulations around edible cannabis products now rather than waiting until after the legalization comes into force, which is expected to happen by July 2018. In a report for the health board, the unit cites a 2016 study and a 2015 study on the impacts of legalizing marijuana in Colorado. Based on those studies, the Ottawa unit is worried about children accidentally ingesting edible cannabis products, particularly if there are lax controls on packaging, storage and labelling. [continues 203 words]
Bordeleau believes centre will be 'congregating area for drug users' The Ottawa Police Service isn't convinced there would be enough security at a proposed supervised injection site in Sandy Hill. In a letter sent this week to the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre, Chief Charles Bordeleau says the police force assessed the organization's security plans for an injection site and determined they are "inadequate." "We do note the presence of a 'greeter' in the proposal but we do not believe that this position will provide the level of security required to deal with issues both inside and outside the facility," Bordeleau writes. "We would ask you to look at this portion of the proposal and develop more robust mitigation strategies." [continues 515 words]
Top doc supports local drug program Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins supports the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre's request for a supervised injection site and says there will be provincial money available to help set it up. Hoskins sent a letter Monday to federal Health Minister Jane Philpott, saying the Sandy Hill health centre's proposal "appears logical and supported by evidence." "Given the importance of this issue, we are also developing a provincial framework in order to respond to the safe injection site proposals from Toronto and Ottawa, as well as other municipalities or other applicants that may request similar programs for their cities in the future and will provide full details within the next few weeks," Hoskins said in a written statement released by his office. [continues 332 words]
Minister calls proposal 'logical,' says funding will be available Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins supports the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre's request for a supervised injection site and says there will be provincial money available to help set it up. Hoskins sent a letter Monday to federal Health Minister Jane Philpott, saying the Sandy Hill health centre's proposal "appears logical and supported by evidence." "Given the importance of this issue, we are also developing a provincial framework in order to respond to the safe injection site proposals from Toronto and Ottawa, as well as other municipalities or other applicants that may request similar programs for their cities in the future and will provide full details within the next few weeks," Hoskins said in a written statement released by his office. [continues 332 words]
The chair of the Ottawa Police Services Board doesn't believe it needs to wade into the injection site debate, agreeing with the mayor that Ottawa Public Health is the right authority. While Coun. Eli El-Chantiry has his own reservations about injections sites, he believes the issue is rightly in the hands of the public health board. "Right now it's not an issue for police yet," El-Chantiry said Thursday. "We have a public health board. They have the mandate to deal with that. They have the experts on the panel. I think that's a good place to have the discussion." [continues 467 words]
Needle-dispensing vending machines could be installed at five locations across central Ottawa, making it the first city in Canada to offer sterile syringes in machines to reduce drug-related virus transmission. Vera Etches, the deputy medical officer of health, said Ottawa Public Health hasn't yet decided what material would be available in the vending machines, but needles and crack pipes are definite possibilities. The machines would fill a gap in service for drug users who need clean needles when a community program is closed for the day. There are no 24/7 services that provide clean needles. [continues 514 words]
The Sandy Hill Community Health Centre is submitting a request to be named as a safe injection site in Ottawa. Needle-dispensing vending machines could be installed at five locations across Ottawa, making it the first city in Canada to offer sterile syringes in machines to reduce drug-related virus transmission. Vera Etches, the deputy medical officer of health, said Ottawa Public Health hasn't yet decided what material would be available in the vending machines, but needles and crack pipes are definite possibilities. [continues 421 words]
Mayor Jim Watson suggested Wednesday that police need to smoke out marijuana dispensaries, which are sprouting all across Ottawa. "I would like to see everyone obey and respect the law," Watson told reporters Wednesday. "If marijuana is going to be legalized, as the prime minister has indicated, then that's fine, we'll live with those rules and regulations and these shops can then open legally, but we don't know the timeframe of that and while they're breaking the law, I think the law should be enforced." [continues 176 words]
