Canada - Toronto and Ottawa should open multiple safe-injection sites: study

[S.J.B.]

Toronto and Ottawa should open multiple safe-injection sites: study
Tom Blackwell
National Post
April 11th, 2012

Ottawa and Toronto should set up a total of five safe-injection sites where drug users can shoot-up legally, urges a new report whose recommendations would mark a major expansion of the controversial concept if implemented.

Spearheaded by two public-health experts, the report suggests the site would curb the spread of HIV and other infectious disease, prevent some overdose deaths and reduce injection in public places.

It calls for three sites in Toronto and two in Ottawa. Multiple sites would be better than the one in Vancouver because drug populations are spread around in the Ontario cities, and it would lessen any impact on the neighborhoods, the researchers said.

Such facilities “are likely to represent good investments of health care dollars,” said Dr. Ahmed Bayoumi, an HIV specialist at Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital and one of the authors.

The report comes after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled unanimously last October that the pioneering Insite safe-injection facility in Vancouver could stay open under an exemption to the Criminal Code. The Harper government had tried to end the exemption granted by the previous Liberal administration, arguing the site was a “failed experiment.”

Read the full story here.

I think that facilities similar to InSite should be set up in all Canadian cities with a significant population of injection drug users, and that these facilities should provide medicinal doses of drugs at an at-cost fee. Open enough of them, and burglary and the market for street pushers will be reduced incredibly.

If providing drugs is too much, the facilities should at least be equipped with a mass spectrometer so that users can have their drugs analysed - this would straighten out the cleanliness and purity of black market drugs as dealers with crap product will lose their customers.

 

[S.J.B.]

Here's CBC's version of the story.

 

[drunken_etard]

Well it could help. When I lived In Ottawa 2 years ago there was old run down house where tons of homeless ppl and junkies would shoot up. This place was fucking disgusting and dirty. Plus a very good place to get punched out beat for your shit. It got so bad the city installed a used needle container. I think a safe injection site would of been awesome for Ottawa and Toronto. Been to one in Vancouver..its a shifty place though lol

 

[Crankinit]

its a shifty place though lol

How so? Other than the clientele? I've seen docos filmed there and it seemed pretty clean to me.

 

[drunken_etard]

Dude. You watchedd a documentary and are actually trying to tell me what a place is like that iv been to. lol Insite is a great place. It is very clean. I guess I should have worded myself better. What I really ment is that Vancouver and that area specificly is shifty and all around Insite is fucked. trust me on this one. Homeless drug addicts everywhere. Alleys filled with needles and crackheads acutally looking around the waste for a fix. The whole area of east hasting is fucked right up. But I have to give you this one. The clinic is very clean.