No council decision on consumption and treatment site

By Dave Flaherty/The Oshawa Express

City council won’t give its opinion on a proposed consumption and treatment site in Oshawa until hearing more public feedback.

Council received an update on an application to bring a site to the city at its most recent meeting.

Lakeridge Health, the John Howard Society of Durham Region and the Durham Region Health Department are working in partnership on the proposal.

Last fall, the provincial government announced consumption and treatment sites (CTS) would replace the former model of supervised consumption services and overdose prevention sites.

CTS will receive provincial funding and secure a federal exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

Ontario is investing approximately $25 million to fund 21 CTS sites across the province.

Paul McGary, director of mental health and addictions at Lakeridge Health said the local application is still in development.

An online survey seeking community input on a potential site in Oshawa is open until March 8.

The survey can be found at https://www.durham.ca/en/health-and-wellness/community-consultation-on-consumption-and-treatment-services.aspx

A potential location has yet to be determined, McGary said.

Acknowledging the city has by-laws in place to avoid these types of services in certain areas, McGary said it’s not their intention to elude these rules.

“We don’t have the intention of landing this, for example, on the four corners of downtown Oshawa,” McGary said.

However, he said the best scenario for the CTS would be a location that is easily accessible to those using the service.

The lack of a certain location and community feedback was of concern to several council members.

Council resolved it could not render a decision on the CTS site until the applying group provides the results of the public survey.

It also committed to holding a special meeting before the end of March to revisit the matter, and to link to the survey on the city’s website.

Ward 3 councillor Bob Chapman said it made little sense to make a decision until “public consultation is undertaken and appraised.”

He believes it will allow residents to learn the differences between a CTS and the former model of supervised consumption and overdose prevention sites.

But the councillor questioned if a two-week online survey was sufficient to capture enough public feedback.

He said the city asked Durham’s health department last April to perform much broader consultation, conceivably including open houses, door-to-door visits, and flyers.

Last June’s change in the provincial government left the issue at a standstill, McGary explained.

“We were not sure whether services would be permitted to continue,” he said.

Considering the application must be done by the end of March, McGary declared an online survey “is the best vehicle we have” in the short timeframe.

“It’s important to get as broad of input as possible before those applications are submitted,” he said.

Ward 1 city councillor Rosemary McConkey said the consultation process was “too open-ended.”

She said the city is hosting ‘pop-up events’ on a number of other issues, and questioned why it isn’t happening in this case.

When she asked McGary if the application would go forward even if the public isn’t in favour, he said: “people know we have a crisis here.”

“I think people understand we have a responsibility as a community to do something about this.”

McGary said the new model offers much more of a “wraparound” service than in the past.

“It’s a one-stop shop for a multitude of services,” he says.

In a CTS setting, users bring in their own drugs to use while monitored by staff.

“We do not provide users with drugs. They self-inject, or they may also choose to ingest the product,” McGary explains.

However, CTS staff will monitor users to make sure they are practicing safely.

They can also provide testing kits for users to make sure their drugs are not laced with opioids such as fentanyl.

But according to McGary, they’d also provide counselling for mental health and addiction among other services.

In his view, it will provide a benefit not only to drug users but the city as a whole.

“It’s reducing risk to the community,” McGary said, noting there are residents who fear the reality of discarded needles on their streets and in city parks.

More than 40 members of the Oshawa Downtown BIA responded to a CTS-related survey.

He said 73 per cent agreed there is an opioid crisis ongoing, 75 per cent thought there were benefits to a safe consumption site, and 54 per cent noticed an increase of discarded needles in the downtown core.

Mary Krohner is the owner of TheLivingRoom Community Art Studio, located at 149 Simcoe Street South.

She said council was facing a “very difficult decision,” but spoke in favour of endorsement.

Krohner says she has slowly seen an increase of discarded needles and issues with individuals under the influence of drugs around her business.

“I’m worried about coming to work and finding someone dead outside our studio,” she said.

While Krohner said she doesn’t “have any illusions it will be simple and easy,” she implored council to do something to help these people, calling them “human beings who deserve a chance to reach for recovery and for relief.”

Ward 4 regional councillor Rick Kerr said he was incredibly moved by Krohner’s words, and said it is easy to forget drug addicts are “fellow citizens who need help.”

Jim Ouellette, who owns Accuprint Centre at 169 Simcoe Street South, has seen ups and downs since purchasing the property in 2001.

He said the issue of drugs keeps getting “worse and worse every day” in the area.

Ouellette says he gets questions from his customers and tenants who live above the business, and he is “struggling with providing answers.”

While he sympathizes with those battling addiction, the business owner is unsure “how much of a difference” a CTS site would make.

Another worry for Ouelette is the effect on property values for business and homeowners, adding they have “personal, business, and financial interests” at risk.

Ward 5 city councillor John Gray wondered if there would be “general bad behaviours” associated with a CTS site such as prostitution, and public urination and defecation.

However, McGary asserted they’d be “part of the solution,” to these problems.

“This doesn’t create more of the problem,” he said.

He explained staff at the site would be well-seasoned in addressing these issues and working with drug users.

But Gray is approaching the issue with great trepidation.

“We need to be very cautious before we stampede into this,” he said.

The application seemed to be “left to the last minute,” he added.

At several points during the meeting, it was suggested the CTS site allows for the use of “illicit” and “illegal” street drugs.

McConkey questioned whether there should be more resources put into helping people to overcome their addiction.

“We need to get more beds for addiction,” she said.

While he agreed more can be done to address mental health and addiction issues, McGary said the biggest priority in a CTS setting is “reducing overdoses and deaths.”

The number of overdoses and deaths linked to opioids has skyrocketed in the past five years.

“What has been declared a crisis is indeed a crisis,” McGary said.

He said no community across the nation is “bending the curve” of increased ER visits, overdoses, and deaths due to opioid abuse.

“The number one cause is fentanyl, and in addition to that, is carfentanil,” McGary explained.

To him, the definition of “success” in battling addiction is achieved in many ways, ranging from people no longer sharing needles to finally getting clean.

Ward 5 regional councillor Brian Nicholson said he found “contradictions” in what he was hearing.

He said instead of allowing users to bring their own drugs, they should receive “pharmaceutical-level drugs.”

“You are actually aiding and abetting the illicit drug supply,” he said.

McGary said the type of system Nicholson spoke of has been successful in other countries, but is not the system in place in Ontario and Canada.

“We’re not there yet, and we can’t wait,” he said.

But Nicholson argued a CTS site would still allow users to take drugs that could kill them.

McGary said it was a “human rights” issue.

“People have a right to use whatever they want. We are there to provide them with help, supervision, and treatment if they want it,” he said.

Despite his concerns, Nicholson said, “the last thing council should do is nothing.”

To him, the option in front of council is not perfect, but he has many more problems with taking no action.

He feels its time for the provincial and federal governments to stop giving “token money” to communities to address the opioid crisis.

“$25 million for the entire province is ludicrous,” Nicholson said.

Ward 4 city councillor Derek Giberson understood how “jarring” it may sound to have a place in Oshawa where people can do illicit drugs, but he would “strongly urge” his colleagues to endorse the application.

While he’d like to see users be able to get clean, he’d “prefer to see them go somewhere they can be helped,” instead of shooting up in alleyways and public bathrooms.

His feeling is the immediate focus should be on saving lives.

“You cannot help or save an addict who is no longer alive,” Giberson said.

A few implied locations came to light during the presentation.

Nicholson asked if Lakeridge Health Oshawa was being considered.

However, McGary said this would not be a good fit due to accessibility, and the proximity to other healthcare services.

“It’s not the right location. We need an independent location.”

Midtown Mall was also mentioned but Gray said it is already facing challenges after losing large tenants such as Metro and Canadian Tire, and he did not think it was an appropriate location.

McGary told The Oshawa Express he was happy with the conversation with councillors.

“I couldn’t be happier to the degree at which council helped us explore this issue from a different number of angles,” he commented.

He understands council must perform its due diligence before making a final opinion on a CTS site, and he is “very pleased” they’ve been invited back to speak again.

The endorsement of council is a condition of the application going to the province for approval.

“It wouldn’t be moving any further,” he said.

McGary says he is not at all surprised councillors had many questions, and he expects a thorough and detailed conversation will need to take place with the public to help them understand a very broad and multi-tiered proposal.

“There’s a lot of moving pieces,” he says.

He did note some disappointment at what he calls “misleading” information making its rounds on social media regarding what they are trying to achieve.

An additional community engagement forum is planned, although, McGary did not have the details as of yet.

In terms of a proposed location, McGary says it is a key question they will need to answer by the next time they appear in council chambers. He is very hopeful council will  ultimately endorse the application.

“We’ve been given an opportunity to apply for one of 21 sites in the province. The government has not given any indication if they’ll ever open up that opportunity further,” he notes. “I don’t have any assurance that if this is declined at this point, that we will ever be able to reapply. Should this opportunity that is an evidence-based, well-researched opportunity, pass us by, we’ll ask ourselves did we miss out on something that could have helped to bend the curve in the opioid crisis.”