'People are dying in Northern Ontario and in our community with regularity' from opioids Drug deaths are now happening at an alarming pace in Sudbury. "It's not just in Vancouver," said Lisa Toner, community outreach coordinator with the Reseau Access Network. "People are dying in Northern Ontario and in our community with regularity. It's not once a month - it's weekly, is my experience this summer." Toner, who has worked in addictions outreach for a decade, said her sense of the escalating crisis has lately been confirmed by people in the city's medical field. [continues 875 words]
Hundreds of health-care workers have requested that Ontario declare a state of emergency as a result of the opioid crisis. Such a declaration would allow for an influx of funding - the signatories to an open letter to Premier Kathleen Wynne asking for the declaration estimate it should run into the millions of dollars - to create more overdose-prevention sites, money for frontline workers and more opioid programs. The government would be well advised to listen; if it doesn't declare a state of emergency, it should at least take to heart the requests made of it and make decisions quickly. [continues 362 words]
Province stops short of declaring public-health emergency, which more than 700 health-care workers called for in an open letter The Ontario government is promising extra money to fight the opioid crisis after more than 700 health-care workers called on the province to use emergency planning measures to address a spike in overdoses. "It is clear that more needs to be done," Premier Kathleen Wynne in a statement on Monday, vowing to commit "significant" additional resources to address the crisis. [continues 682 words]
City's death rate among the highest An Ontario report warns Hamilton shows signs of having among the highest illicit opioid use in the province. It also flags a potential lack of addiction treatment services here compared to the high death rates found by the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network. Its alert comes at the same time that city data shows July had the highest number of opioid-related 911 calls so far this year. "Hamilton has stood out as having one of the higher death rates in the province," said Tara Gomes, a scientist at St. Michael's Hospital and the lead author of the report. [continues 581 words]
Chatter was spreading online and through the Downtown Eastside on Sunday and Monday, a rumour about cops busting an unlicensed pop-up cannabis dispensary. The dispensary in question is different from the roughly 60 unlicensed pot shops running in Vancouver, many of which are slick commercial operations. The High Hopes Foundation, a small booth that opened this summer in the Downtown Eastside, is run by the people behind the Overdose Prevention Society and works toward the same goal of saving lives as an escalating overdose crisis rocks the city and province. [continues 681 words]
High Hopes cannabis dispensary an 'outside-the-box' solution supported by first responders Chatter was spreading online and through the Downtown Eastside on Sunday and Monday, a rumour about cops busting an unlicensed pop-up cannabis dispensary. The dispensary in question is different from the roughly 60 unlicensed pot shops running in Vancouver, many of which are slick commercial operations. The High Hopes Foundation, a small booth which opened this summer in the Downtown Eastside, is run by the people behind the Overdose Prevention Society and works toward the same goal of saving lives as an escalating overdose crisis rocks the city and province. [continues 681 words]
Ontario caregivers say action would let government release additional funding More than 700 health care workers from across Ontario are calling on the province to declare the opioid crisis an emergency, saying they're overwhelmed by too many dying patients and too few resources. Doing so would allow the government to release additional funding for more front-line workers and rapidly approve programs to help those suffering from addictions, says the group of doctors, nurses and frontline workers from 55 Ontario communities. [continues 514 words]
Mayor Jim Watson is more concerned about votes and public reaction than drug-use management in his criticism of a pop-up supervised injection site in a Lowertown park, says one of the site's organizers. "Well, he's a politician; what can I say?" said Rick Sproule, who's with Overdose Prevention Ottawa. "He's concerned about votes, that's what he's concerned about. He's not a healthcare professional, he has no expertise in the field whatsoever." On Tuesday, Watson said that injection-site organizers, while well intentioned, weren't being fair to the community and had "taken over" the park. [continues 398 words]
Local agencies supporting those suffering from the opioid crisis used International Overdose Day on Thursday as an opportunity to bring attention to the issue. The opioid crisis is no longer an issue just for large cities. The Kingston area, as well as some villages north of the city, have overdose numbers that are aso concerning. For example, Overdose Day was marked in Sharbot Lake as well as Kingston. On Thursday morning, the Kingston Community Health Centres' Street Health Centre held a news conference to mark the occasion. [continues 920 words]
City, province need all the assistance they can get to fight opioid crisis What's a few lives lost in service of protecting bureaucracy? Surely, a little moral grandstanding is worth more than the health and safety of some of our most vulnerable neighbours. This is, basically, what we're being told by those opposing a pop-up Supervised Injection Site at Raphael Brunet Park. Facing an opioid crisis that saw 135 overdoses in June alone, Overdose Prevention Ottawa launched the pop-up site because someone needed to do something. [continues 600 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]
Re: Decriminalizing drugs no fix for opioid crisis, Aug. 19 I wonder if Mohammed Adam has done any in-depth research into the proposal by Ontario and Ottawa Public Health to decriminalize possession and use of illegal drugs. Whilst this plan seems to be counter-intuitive, it also appears the long-term effects on law, order and the health of a marginalized population are positive and, indeed, life-affirming. In Portugal's case, it appears significant health and social services back up the move to legalization. Safe-injection sites, social workers visiting the homeless, and no court time taken up by people found possessing small amounts of street or prescription drugs all create a benefit to the addicts and society in general. Admittedly, the opioid crisis adds a whole other dimension to the situation, but should not stand in the way of serious consideration of a solution that offers hope and dignity to many who are unable to get out of their addictions. Howard Clark, Ottawa [end]
Temporary clinic has been open for a week in building at Victoria and Dundas Sts. It has been nearly one week since Toronto opened its first city-run site for people to use illegal intravenous drugs and, so far, three dozen people have used the controversial service. "We are thrilled to be offering this life-saving service to the community," Dr. Rita Shahin, Toronto Public Health's associate medical officer of health, said Saturday. "The very first client that we had when we opened our doors, to us, represents a potential life that we may have saved. We had 36 visits in just five days, which . . . represents a great success. We look forward to more people becoming aware of the service and helping more people in our community." [continues 560 words]
Sandy Hill centre lot offered to supervised-injection group The Sandy Hill Community Health Centre has temporarily offered its parking lot to an unsanctioned "popup" group as the centre tries to move up the opening date of its own federally approved supervised injection site. Pop-up tents were set up by Overdose Prevention Ottawa (OPO) in Raphael Brunet Park near the ByWard Market on Friday, with organizers calling it an emergency response to the rising number of overdoses in Ottawa. Lisa Wright, a spokeswoman for Overdose Prevention Ottawa, said the organization would stick with its current plan for now. But Wright said it would consult its members next week as to whether they wanted to move to the new location at the community centre. [continues 340 words]
Advocates say they can't wait any longer and will open a safe-injection location Drug users are dying while politicians fill out forms and wait for approvals for supervised injection sites, says a group promising to open a guerrilla injection tent of its own somewhere in Ottawa Friday. Overdose Prevention Ottawa, which has only existed for a matter of days, is taking the delicate political compromises that have let harm-reduction efforts lurch forward here and kicking them aside. Because waiting is costing lives, the group says. [continues 1487 words]
The push for legal harm reduction requires breaking the law. That was the chatter Friday down at the pop-up safe-injection site in Lowertown. And it's true. With the big black tent in the background of Raphael Brunet Park, volunteers prepared for what they expected to be a busy evening. Boxes of fruit snacks and flats of Costco water sat nearby. Some people moseyed through, grabbing a doughnut and cup of coffee and asking what was going on. Things that are illegal don't tend to become legal until people realize the consequences aren't as grave as they fear. More to the point, perhaps, with something like harm reduction and drug use, things don't tend to become legal until everyone realizes that it was criminality in the first place that made an activity dangerous. [continues 547 words]
Unsanctioned overdose prevention site revealed to be near ByWard Market When Erick Laurie found out Friday that a pop-up safe injection site had been set up in his neighbourhood, he called one of his friends who uses drugs, and after a little convincing they walked to Raphael Brunet Park together. "You'll have somewhere where you feel safe, you'll feel comfortable. A friend can bring them (to the site)," said Laurie, who was addicted to opioids while receiving treatment for back pain about a decade ago. [continues 297 words]
When Erick Laurie found out Friday that a pop-up safe injection site had been set up in his neighbourhood, he called one of his friends who uses drugs and, after a little convincing, they walked to Raphael Brunet Park together. "You'll have somewhere where you feel safe, you'll feel comfortable. A friend can bring them (to the site)," said Laurie, who was addicted to opioids while receiving treatment for back pain about a decade ago. The launch of the "pop-up" supervised injection site was announced on Thursday, and on Friday the location was revealed at the Brunet park near the By Ward Market. The site was open to people who wanted to use the service it provides for three hours Friday evening. [continues 360 words]
Pop-up injection site location to be disclosed Friday Ottawa's first pop-up supervised injection site will open Friday. The group Overdose Prevention Ottawa (OPO) will make the announcement Thursday morning but will not disclose its location ahead of operations, which are scheduled to begin Friday. "We're going to do exactly what Toronto did and not disclose our location until we set it up," said Marilou Gagnon, associate professor at the University of Ottawa School of Nursing and volunteer with OPO. [continues 135 words]
Concern about dangers of discarded injection paraphernalia has prompted the tattoo artist James Takeo to launch an online petition which asks Welland city council to investigate installing sharps containers in public places such as city parks. Takeo said he posted the petition on social media during the second week of this month. He said as of Tuesday it had racked up 715 signatures. He is pleasantly surprised by the response. The petition says: "Too many times there have been incidences of needles being improperly disposed of in city garbage cans or in other public places in our community. This poses a safety risk for all members of the community, especially city workers and staff who often must take the responsibility of disposal of these sharps. [continues 919 words]
