Purple heroin sparking concern amid downtown overdose crisis
Temporary supervised site for users to start offering services early next week
TERRY LUCAS OFTEN had a sunny disposition, but he hid his demons well.
So say those who knew the man who was found dead in a Salvation Army washroom after a drug overdose last week.
“He would always just have a smile on his face even if he wasn’t happy,” Jaime Passmore said outside the York Boulevard men’s shelter Wednesday.
Passmore, 25, is organizing a gathering at Bayfront Park on Saturday to honour her friend.
Lucas is one casualty among many in an overdose crisis that continues to plague Hamilton.
Those on the front lines hope a temporary overdose prevention site expected to open early next week will help save lives.
The plan is to operate the service at Hamilton Urban Core Community Health Centre, 71 Rebecca St., for six months.
The Shelter Health Network and its
partners are behind the effort.
Earlier this week, Dr. Jill Wiwcharuk, the network’s lead physician, told The Spectator she was concerned the slowing wheels of government during the provincial election could delay the site’s opening.
On Wednesday, Wiwcharuk said the ministry has since told her the service could start operating.
“We are going to see clients in the evening hours on Tuesday.”
The idea is to provide a safe, staffed and clean setting where people can use illegal drugs without feeling stigmatized.
“It’s really important that this space is respected and client confidentiality is respected.”
The service has an exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and provincial funding of up to $116,300.
“It’s good to see that it’s happening in Hamilton. It is a new territory for all of us here,” Denise Brooks, executive director of Urban Core, said about the cooperative effort.
On York Boulevard, Richard Jacko, who rents a room at the Salvation Army, said drug users have been “dropping like flies” recently. Purple heroin, which is laced with fentanyl, a powerful painkiller, has hit the street hard, he said.
Lucas took that volatile concoction before his overdose death last week, said Passmore, who is homeless.
He’d been kicked out of the shelter and was sleeping outside but was recently permitted to use the shower, she said.
Local Salvation Army executive director Robert Russell said he couldn’t comment on the case due to confidentiality policies.
Passmore said Lucas’ young daughter was recently at York Boulevard to write “I miss you Dad” on a cardboard tribute from his “street family.”
“It broke my heart,” said Passmore, who has a husband and children.
Known as “Red” because of the colour of his hair, Lucas was in his late 30s and struggled with mental health issues, she said.
Jacko, 36, described Lucas as a “guy trying to get clean” and “back to his family.”
“I just know he was a helpful guy around here. He would give you the shirt off his back.”
In March, the city’s public health department issued an alert about purple heroin.
Passmore said 10 to 15 people a day walk by asking for the drug. “We tell them, ‘Get out of here. We just lost somebody because of that stuff.’ ”
Wiwcharuk said a woman recently overdosed outside Wesley Urban Ministries on Ferguson Avenue North after taking purple heroin. It took seven doses of naloxone to revive her.
Passmore said she has used naloxone, an opioid antidote, twice in the past while.
“It’s pretty intense. It’s pretty scary.”
The Salvation Army has seen a “high number of deaths” lately, Wiwcharuk added. “More than any other place.”
The city’s online opioid information
system notes that between May 14 and May 20, 74 people visited emergency departments in Hamilton hospitals due to drug misuse or overdose.
In 2017, 87 people in Hamilton died of opioid overdoses. The city’s death rate was 72 per cent higher than the province’s.
Amid the crisis, a growing group of people have been sleeping on York Boulevard near the Salvation Army.
On Wednesday, representatives of the police, city and social service agencies met at the Salvation Army to discuss the issue. Neighbouring Philpott Memorial Church was also involved in the strategy session.
“The providers will be increasing their contact with these individuals and working on finding housing for them as soon as possible,” police spokesperson Jackie Penman said.
Mayor Fred Eisenberger’s office said he’d contacted Russell after receiving an email from a resident complaining about the crowd.
In a response to the resident, the mayor’s office called it a “complex issue for sure,” explaining the shelter attracts “other people who don’t belong there.”
Russell confirmed some of those outside aren’t clients of the men’s shelter. Some have been restricted from other facilities, he said.
Russell said he couldn’t speculate as to why the group has been drawn to York Boulevard, but noted some homeless people live outside and move from place to place during warmer weather.
“Our goal is to help them get housing, and help them move on to another location that’s more suitable than the front of our building.”
Jacko, seated in a chair on the York Boulevard sidewalk, said he’s troubled by the effort to make the group move along.
“This place is supposed to be a place to help them.”
Russell said the temporary overdose prevention site at Urban Core should help.
“As a system, we’re trying to provide opportunities to keep people safe.”
Jacko said he doesn’t carry a naloxone kit.
“But I’m going to be starting.”