Mothers galvanize regional politicians with powerful stories of loss of kids to overdoses NIAGARA - Wilma Thompson was hearing about the horrific death toll the opioid crisis sweeping across the country was having, so she pulled her daughter Jaena, age 19, aside last year. "I said please don't ever try this stuff: it will kill you," the St. Catharines mom said. "She said 'mom, I would never do that.' " Two months later, Jaena didn't answer repeated calls to her phone. Her family called 911 and emergency responders found her dead in her apartment. Of an opioid overdose. [continues 1052 words]
They're still dealing with crushing grief barely contained, but a group of Niagara mothers who lost children in the prime of their lives to overdoses from opioids delivered a powerful message to regional politicians last week on the desperate need to deal with the opioid crisis sweeping like a freight train across the country. The powerful drugs such as fentanyl have left a trail of destruction starting on the West Coast and moving east, with soaring numbers of emergency rooms visits due to overdoses in Ontario now. [continues 418 words]
Despite the mounting toll of overdose-related deaths in Ontario, Ottawa's mayor and certain city councillors are trying to close a "pop-up" overdose prevention site in Raphael Brunet Park. The site, staffed by concerned volunteers with Overdose Prevention Ottawa and funded via community donations, provides life-saving harm reduction services for people who use drugs. There have been more than 1,150 visits and no fatalities since it opened five weeks ago. Various political "leaders" in Ottawa have criticized pop-up site organizers and been quick to presume the illegality of the site. The site operates without a federal ministerial exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, which means that those using illegal drugs at the site can still be charged for possession when using a service that could mean the difference between life and death. [continues 661 words]
The Global Commission on Drug Policy has issued recommendations on tackling North America's opioid crisis, calling for the immediate expansion of harm reduction services, the decriminalization and regulation of currently illicit drugs and an initiative to allow interested cities to de facto decriminalize as federal debates over drug policy continue. The position paper, to be released on Monday, comes in advance of the final report of the White House opioid commission, led by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, due out in November. [continues 699 words]
Stafford Drive bridge area being fenced off CP Rail is cutting off access to one of the most active illicit injection sites in the city in the coming months, which could drive up drug use in other areas of the city. In a report to Lethbridge Police Commission on Wednesday, ARCHES Executive Director Stacey Bourque told the commission when CP Rail cuts access to the area under Stafford Bridge, many drug users will lose access to an area where ARCHES cleans thousands of used needles every month. [continues 540 words]
Protesters turn on Coun. Fleury for seeking the closure of temporary tent pop-up clinic For over a year, Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury has been one of city council's most vocal backers of a supervised drug injection site to save Ottawa drug users from overdoses. Friday, protesters crowded outside Fleury's city hall office, calling him everything but a killer. About 100 supporters of Overdose Prevention Ottawa and its "pop-up" tent in a Lowertown park chanted "Shame!" and demanded he "man up!" and face them. [continues 1103 words]
Flyer claims facility has led to spike in drug dealing A pop-up injection site on the edge of the ByWard Market is drawing mixed reviews from Lowertown residents, landlords and business owners. An anonymous flyer circulated this week in the area, and shared widely on social media, claims the "unsanctioned and illegal" site operated by Overdose Prevention Ottawa has led to sharp increases in drug dealing, public intoxication, public disorder and discarded needles and other drug paraphernalia littering the downtown streets. [continues 533 words]
A pop-up injection site on the edge of the ByWard Market is drawing mixed reviews from Lowertown residents, landlords and business owners. An anonymous flyer circulated this week in the area, and shared widely on social media, claims the "unsanctioned and illegal" site operated by Overdose Prevention Ottawa has led to sharp increases in drug dealing, public intoxication, public disorder and discarded needles and other drug paraphernalia littering the downtown streets. However, there is no evidence those claims are true. [continues 544 words]
'POP-UP' SAFE INJECTION SITE IN LOWERTOWN People crowd in the reception area for councillors' offices at city hall yesterday to protest councillor Mathieu Fleury suggesting a Lowertown 'pop-up' safe-injection site be removed. For over a year, Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury has been one of city council's most vocal backers of a supervised drug-injection site to save Ottawa drug users from overdoses. Friday, protesters crowded outside Fleury's city hall office, calling him everything but a killer. [continues 635 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]
Many cases unreported due to naloxone distribution, says health official There's likely a large number of unreported opioid overdoses in North Bay. That's because the antidote naloxone is being distributed by pharmacies and front-line organizations to those struggling with addiction, as well as their friends and family members, throughout the community. Kathleen Jodouin, HIV education co-ordinator at the AIDS Committee of North Bay and Area, says her organization has had a take-home naloxone program in place for the past two years. And, she says, the drug, which temporarily reverses the effects of heroin and other opioid drugs, is frequently given out. [continues 602 words]
The opioid crisis plaguing much of Canada has made its mark on southwestern Ontario's emergency rooms. Visits to the region's emergency rooms for opioid overdoses went up almost 28 per cent from 281 in 2015 to 359 in 2016, according to statistics recently released by Public Health Ontario. Divided by health unit, Chatham-Kent, and Lambton and Huron numbers actually dipped in 2016 compared to 2015 while Elgin-St. Thomas, Middlesex-London and Oxford numbers skyrocketed. "We've seen high rates of overdose here for several years. We've seen the hospital rates go up," said Dr. Chris Mackie, medical officer of health for the London-Middlesex Health Unit. [continues 547 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]
PORT HOPE - A detailed report about how the local health unit is battling opioid overdoses and fatalities does not yet include a safe injection site like the one established this summer after a volunteer pop-up tent appeared in Toronto. After receiving the Medical Officer of Health's (MOH) report about how the inventory, supply and control of Naloxone has been established and the first "pop up" Naloxone community event was held at the hospital in Lindsay last month, board members of the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit asked if there were plans in place to react to a "pop-up" safe injection site should it occur in the health unit's own tri-county jurisdiction. [continues 118 words]
NDP leadership candidate Jagmeet Singh's recent promise that, as prime minister, he would move quickly to drop criminal penalties for possession or purchase of small amounts of all drugs will no doubt seem radical to many. Broad-based decriminalization would beast ark reversal after decades of increasingly punitive policies. And this would certainly add a layer of complication to the already complicated task of legalizing marijuana, which Ottawa and the provinces are struggling to do by next summer. The Trudeau government' s current position on decriminalization is understandable: Ottawa already has its hands full with pot. [continues 458 words]
Nothing seems to have the cops and local and provincial politicians scrambling more these days than their attempts to get ahead of the federal government's plans to make marijuana legal by next summer. But that should hardly be too much of distraction to allow the toker in the Prime Minister's office, the cute and clever Justin Trudeau, off the hook when it comes to effectively dealing with a more immediately critical drug issue, the opioid crisis. Yet is seems to have. [continues 650 words]
If, by providing safe-injection sites society is saying it is OK to shoot illegal drugs, aren't we just encouraging drug use? Gordon Ball Ottawa (Opinions seem to differ on that one.) [end]
While politicians were busy debating whether to create a new group to deal with an opioid crisis, community agencies went ahead and formed it themselves. That created a confusing conversation at a city hall committee on Monday night, when politicians debated the opioid crisis working group for the third time since Aug. 1. But third time's the charm. Originally, Mayor Matt Brown asked council to establish the group, billed as a task force that would help address the opioid crisis that's killing dozens of Londoners each year. [continues 386 words]
