Mayor pushes province for help on safe injection site
Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark is renewing a request for the provincial government to help fund services at a safe consumption site set to open in Saskatoon, warning there could be serious repercussions for the Pleasant Hill neighbourhood if proper supports aren’t in place.
Clark raised the point with Health Minister Jim Reiter as the two met to discuss a plan released this month by an alliance of local agencies and organizations proposing a 29-point strategy to tackle a “crisis” of crystal meth use in Saskatoon. That plan includes opening a safe consumption site, which AIDS Saskatoon hopes to do this spring.
“We need to have the right programming and services in place to help deal with the drug crisis in our community, not create more challenges in a neighbourhood that already has a lot of them,” Clark said.
“I would say the province is key to that,” the mayor continued.
While data on whether safe consumption sites lead to a measurable increase in crime is inconclusive and dependent on where the site is located, Clark noted local businesses and schools have voiced concerns about the Saskatoon project.
The city has agreed to fund eight police officers to work in the area, and AIDS Saskatoon has secured funding for the Okihtcitawak patrol group, a community organization that connects residents with services and removes discarded needles from streets.
The province, which has oversight over mental health and addictions, has declined to commit any funding ahead of its March 18 budget.
“The decision hasn’t been made there yet,” Reiter said Wednesday at a news conference in Saskatoon.
Reiter said he recognized the growing toll of opioid and crystal meth overdoses on the province and strongly hinted at more funding for those issues, but did not make any promises around the safe consumption site.
AIDS Saskatoon executive director Jason Mercredi says Reiter toured the site on Thursday. Mercredi expressed optimism given the minister’s track record on harm reduction policies. Mercredi credits Reiter with deregulating the opioid overdose reversal medication naloxone and helping secure funding for needle exchange programs in the province.
“He really knows his stuff on harm reduction and HIV,” Mercredi said. “He’s not taking this decision lightly.”
Mercredi said the site will pay for itself. He said he believes the operation, which will be open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, will reduce rising rates of HIV and hepatitis C spread by sharing needles and other drug paraphernalia. He also says it will ease the burden on first responders like police officers and paramedics who he worries are stretched thin in the present circumstances.
“We’re going to save the government a lot of money,” Mercredi summarized. He could not speculate what would happen if his funding request was rejected but said he would work to make sure the site becomes a reality.
“We’re just waiting on budget day like everybody else,” he said.
Clark said the current status quo is not acceptable.
“We need to use an evidence-based approach here,” Clark said. “It’s easy for politics to get into these decisions. In my view, what’s important is that we look at evidence and what’s causing change, prevent overdose deaths, and get people onto a pathway of recovery.”