Group pushing ‘first aid station’ for drug addicts

Volunteers launch education campaign to allay fears of concerned residents

A group pushing to open an overdose prevention site in Windsor is attempting to combat any backlash through statistics and public awareness about exactly what takes place at such locations. The local Overdose Prevention Society is still targeting the first week of November to open an unsanctioned Overdose Prevention Site in Windsor, a member of the group said on Tuesday.

The society hopes to do so despite concerns from Windsor police Chief Al Frederick and Mayor Drew Dilkens, who have said they worry illegal activity connected to drug use happens at such sites, which can become a magnet for criminal behaviour. “We’re in the process of doing harm reduction education to members of the community, as well as education about the overdose prevention sites themselves,” said Brandon Bailey, a member of the local group. “We’re trying to explain what an overdose prevention site actually does and educate the community. A lot of people are against it because they don’t understand it.” Overdose prevention sites allow drug users to inject under the supervision of professional healthcare workers who can apply first aid in the event of an overdose. The sites also make available information to help users receive treatment to address addictions. “The sites don’t give people drugs,” Bailey said.

“They have nothing to do with that. They’re just a first aid station where there are health-care people there to help if people overdose.”

Frederick stated earlier this month that an unsanctioned overdose prevention site locally would not be tolerated.

“I’ve said it before — if people inside are ingesting drugs, they are contravening the law,” he said. “If people at the site are aiding with that in any way, they are trafficking a drug and they will be treated as such by Windsor police.”

“We don’t want to go against the chief, we’re just trying to make sure people don’t have to die,” Bailer countered on Tuesday. The group is in the midst of gathering before and after statistics regarding some of the existing 25 overdose prevention sites across Canada, including criminal behaviour, he said.

The Ontario government recently put its overdose prevention site program on hold — a freeze on opening any more locations — pending further study. Windsor is among the cities in Ontario with a site application pending. An open letter signed by 18 health-care leaders across Ontario — including Rita Taillefer, the executive director of the Windsor Essex Community Health Centre — was sent to Ontario health minister Christine Elliott, noting there have been 1,400 lives lost as a result of opioid overdoses in the province since the beginning of 2017.

The letter claimed that 917 lives had been saved during that time by reversing overdoses at the prevention sites.