ANTIDOTE ARGUMENT
Ward 9 Coun. Kieran McKenzie, photographed walking through an alley in downtown Windsor on Friday, wants city staff to produce a report on equipping first responders with an emergency overdose antidote to battle the opioid crisis. He will raise the issue
With Windsor in the grip of an opioid epidemic, Ward 9 Coun. Kieran McKenzie wants city staff to produce a report assessing the pros and cons of equipping first responders with an emergency overdose antidote.
“We are in the midst of a fullblown public health crisis in our community related to the use of opiates,” said McKenzie, the ward’s rookie councillor. “The issues are literally life or death. Across the province it is a best practice for first responders to carry and administer naloxone when warranted.”
McKenzie said he will raise the issue at Monday’s council meeting. He wants support from fellow councillors to have city staff develop a report analyzing the potential impacts of equipping first responders, including police and firefighters, with kits to deal with suspected opiate overdoses. Fire Chief Steve Laforet was out of town and unavailable for comment Friday. Other officials with the fire department said they couldn’t talk about the issue. Windsor Police Chief Al Frederick has repeatedly said he is opposed to equipping his officers with naloxone, which temporarily reverses the effects of an opioid overdose. “The question of whether or not our first responders should be carrying emergency naloxone kits has been made, in my opinion, without sufficient information and without sufficient input from the entire community and a range of people who do have expertise to offer on this question,” said McKenzie. He said he believes first responders should be carrying naloxone, but at this point he’s only looking for information and a “fulsome debate.” McKenzie said he hopes the study will help council and others understand the benefits, risks, cost and training requirements of deploying naloxone kits.
He would like the report to have input from the police chief, the city’s legal department, and other experts and stakeholders.
“I think there is a need, but I want greater information to be made available to myself, my colleagues on council including the mayor and the community generally speaking,” he said. McKenzie said he’s asking for the report because more needs to be done to address the “opioid crisis in our community.”
There were 11 opioid-related deaths in Windsor in the first six months of this year, according to Dr. Dirk Huyer, the chief coroner of Ontario.
Overdoses also killed five people in a 24-hour period from Nov. 10 to 11.
Apart from asking for a report, McKenzie said he’s not expecting council to make any decisions or issue any decrees. “There’s going to be a really important discussion that I hope will move forward,” said McKenzie. “All I’m asking is for my colleagues on council at this point, and the mayor, is to say yes to information. And let’s do consultation, and we’ll see where that takes us once we have the information in front of us.”
Even if councillors wanted to, said McKenzie, they can’t force the police chief to deploy naloxone. “City council does not have the authority to direct the police force on matters of operation,” he said. “But the Windsor police board does have that authority. There are members of city council that sit on that board as well as other appointed individuals from the community. They do have the authority to compel the police services in our community to adopt matters that address operational issues, such as carrying an emergency naloxone kit.” Mayor Drew Dilkens and Ward 6 Coun. Jo-Anne Gignac, both currently members of the Windsor Police Services Board, did not respond Friday to requests for comment.
McKenzie said Windsor is one of the few remaining mediumsized cities in Ontario that does not equip its first responders with naloxone.
Police and firefighters across the rest of Canada and North America also carry the overdose antidote, he said.
“First responders carrying emergency naloxone kits is increasingly becoming a best practice,” said McKenzie. “Windsor is becoming an outlier in that respect. At this point, with the information that I have, I think it is something that we need to add into the basket of tools that our first responders do have. But I’m also very interested and looking forward to getting a report from our administration, and from other folks and stakeholders in the community, to talk about the benefits and potential risks.”