Forum on Hamilton’s overdose prevention site to feature clients’ testimony

New grassroots group plans to present the successes of the site at Urban Core

Clients of Hamilton’s only overdose prevention site plan to share their experiences during a panel discussion about the life-saving service next month.

The Nov. 4 forum at the Hamilton Public Library comes with urgency as the Ontario government reviews the merits of such sites.

“We’re feeling very anxious, but also really committed to moving forward,” Lisa Nussey, a midwife and support worker at the Rebecca Street service, said Monday.

A new organization, Keeping Six — Hamilton Harm Reduction Action League, which formed to support drug users and loved ones amid the opioid crisis, is hosting the forum.

The grassroots group aims to present the successes of the temporary site, which opened at Urban Core Community Health Centre in June, and others like it in Ontario.

Nussey said she hopes the discussion, called A Way Forward, also helps debunk the notion that drug users are “trash.”

“That myth and stereotype is really pervasive and really damaging.”

Nussey said four clients have agreed to speak in the panel discussion. Peer-support workers and front-line staff are also participating.

The opioid crisis has hit Hamilton particularly hard, with 87 people dying of overdoses here last year. Fentanyl, a powerful painkiller sold in bootleg form on the street, and mixtures with heroin are fuelling the plague.

The temporary overdose prevention site, which provides trained medical staff on site, is a partnership between Urban Core, the Shelter Health Network and Hamilton Public Health.

Since it opened in June, there has been an increase in client visits with 1,373 so far. Staff have reported 15 overdoses, which were treated on-site.

But the service is set to cease operations at the end of November, when its $116,300 in funding is expected to be exhausted.

The previous Liberal provincial government worked with its federal counterpart to pave the way for the temporary overdose prevention and permanent supervised injection sites.

Both require exemptions under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to allow people to use illegal drugs on site. Funding is provided by the province.

In August, Ontario’s new Progressive Conservative government put new temporary sites in St. Catharines, Toronto and Thunder Bay on hold to review their “merit.”

Earlier this month, Health Minister Christine Elliott said the government would need another 30 days to decide their future.

In a news release Monday, Keeping Six echoed the sentiment of other organizations, saying there should be no question of merit.

“Communities say the review period is long over, the evidence is in and that while they talk, we die . ... We can’t wait any longer!”

De dwa da dehs nye>s Aboriginal Health Centre and Wesley Urban Ministries have applied to the federal government to open permanent supervised injection sites in Hamilton.