SAFE DRUG SITE AWAITS FUNDS
Service is ‘desperately needed’
AIDS Saskatoon is drawing on lessons learned across Canada as it prepares to open Saskatchewan’s first safe consumption site.
The organization’s new building at 1516 20th St. W. includes a space where people who use drugs will be able inject or smoke substances under supervision in an effort to reduce overdoses, the spread of HIV and other adverse effects of drug use.
When the $1.1-million site is in full operation, AIDS Saskatoon executive director Jason Mercredi said, he anticipates as many as 250 clients accessing the safe consumption site and as many as 300 accessing the attached dropin centre.
“This service is desperately needed in the city one way or the other,” he said.
Sanctioned consumption sites are intended to reduce the death toll of an overdose crisis that has claimed more than 10,000 lives across the country since 2016, largely as a result of contamination from fentanyl and its variants.
It also limits the spread of HIV through used needles. More than 70 per cent of new HIV cases in the province are attributed to intravenous drug use.
The new facility, which was approved this summer but has been years in the making, includes metal booths where people will be able to inject and a chamber for indoor smoking. In case of an overdose, a switch can clear the chamber of fumes in seconds so staff can enter. Two paramedics will be there at all times, ready to administer naloxone, which temporarily reverses the effects of an opioid overdose.
Mercredi said the site’s opening date is not set and it will depend on if and when AIDS Saskatoon gets needed funding from the Saskatchewan Health Authority.
Authority spokeswoman Amanda Purcell wrote to Postmedia that AIDS Saskatoon’s request would “be considered for the 2020-21 fiscal year.”
Dr. Peter Butt, an addictions specialist at the University of
Saskatchewan, was among the first in the province to call for a feasibility study of a safe consumption site.
He noted that not a single person has died of an overdose at the 48 other approved safe consumption sites across the country.
“In terms of measuring whether it’s worth it ... if you prevent one death, you’re doing good,” Butt said.
Mercredi said the facility is “a bit unique” because it also houses a drop-in centre and outreach services. “This level of service is pretty high and isn’t that common at consumption sites across Canada,” he said.
The facility includes couches where people accessing any of the services can relax, and the building ’s sides are painted with murals by a local artist both to discourage graffiti and to make the site “feel more like community.”
Butt said packaging services together could help more people who use drugs access other care options.
“It creates an opportunity for people to be educated about other services that are available in terms of treatment,” he said.
The safe consumption part of the site is not yet open.
Mercredi said it will operate 24/7, a need he identified during tours of similar facilities in Edmonton, Vancouver, Lethbridge and Toronto.
He’s also committing to never turning away clients unless they present a risk to staff or other patrons.
“Drug use is not a nine-to-five habit, and people need to have access to life-saving services when they need them,” Mercredi said. “If (a client) has a bad day and we ban them from service, that could be a literal death sentence.”
The site is a concern for some Pleasant Hill residents, who worry it will attract crime.
“We love Pleasant Hill. This is a community that often gets a bad rap and is portrayed in a negative light … we’re dedicated to being good neighbours,” Mercredi said.