Pubdate: Fri, 20 Oct 2017 Source: London Free Press (CN ON) Copyright: 2017 The London Free Press Contact: http://www.lfpress.com/letters Website: http://www.lfpress.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/243 Author: Jonathan Sher Page: A2 PUBLIC WILL GET THEIR SAY ON SUPERVISED INJECTION SITES After years of debate over whether the city should open supervised injection sites for those who use drugs, Londoners soon will get a chance to weigh in. Public hearings will start later this month or November, says Dr. Christopher Mackie, chief medical officer of health with the Middlesex-London Health Unit. While Mackie first floated the idea more than four years ago, it made no sense to push for the sites until Londoners learned about their potential benefits and how risks to public safety could be mitigated, he said Thursday. "Was the community ready for it (four years ago)? Definitely not," Mackie said. The drug crisis is hardly new: Overdoses led to a record number of ER visits in 2008 and a record number of deaths in 2012, according to stats from the health unit. Nor have drug overdoses suddenly overtaken motor vehicle collisions as a cause of death among adults ages 15 to 50; that happened years ago, Mackie said. Instead, what's new is what's on the horizon - fentanyl has caused devastating effects in British Columbia and organized crime is seeking to expand its hold on streets here. "It's a recipe for disaster," Mackie said. Also problematic is an opioid called OxyNEO that can be injected as a gel. Its use may explain an increase in fatal infections in the lining around the heart, Mackie said. Earlier Thursday, Mackie briefed the London Police Services Board about the long-standing drug crisis and the need to combat it with supervised injection sites designed carefully to enhance, rather than harm, public safety. Board members, who include London Mayor Matt Brown, voted to consider adopting an official policy towards injection sites when the board meets next month. In February, Ontario HIV Treatment Network conducted a report that recommended downtown and Old East as the best locations for supervised injection. That recommendation later led business leaders in those locations to ask politicians at city hall to create limits on where injection sites could be located, keeping them certain distances from places such as schools and day cares. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt