When safe sites aren’t
Councilor finds ‘a mess’ in Vancouver’s efforts to curb opioid scourge
Boston City Councilor At-Large Annissa EssaibiGeorge went to Vancouver last year with an open mind to tour the Canadian city’s safe injection sites.
She was disturbed and disappointed by what she saw.
“I saw a mess. I saw people who were very, very sick. I saw programs that were not encouraging individuals to go into recovery,” Essaibi-George told me Monday.
Next week, EssaibiGeorge is heading to Toronto to tour that city’s safety injection sites. She plans to talk about the issue at City Hall today, when council members meet to discuss Boston’s unforgiving opioid crisis.
Crystal meth, EssaibiGeorge said, is also “starting to rear its ugly head” in Boston, causing addicts to become more aggressive, and she plans to ask about the impact of crystal meth while in Toronto.
“When a person is now given Narcan,” she said, “there is sometimes a more aggressive response.”
Councilors today are hosting the special working session on the city’s drug woes as frustrations intensify over the opioid crisis. Earlier this month, officials rolled out “Operation Clean Sweep,” which resulted in a wave of arrests, after a Suffolk County corrections officer was beaten on “Methadone Mile.” The troubled stretch of the South End is rife with addicts openly shooting up, homelessness and methadone clinics and has become ground zero in Boston’s drug war.
Essaibi-George, who chairs the council’s substance abuse committee, has opposed safe injection sites, where users can legally shoot up under the supervision of a trained medical staffer — and nothing she saw in Vancouver has changed her mind.
In fact, she said some officials weren’t focused on recovery at all because of the high risk of overdosing to those who relapse. Instead, the city has chosen to focus efforts on controversial harm reduction programs, such as safe injection sites. One provider told her they were even considering whether to install drug-dispensing kiosks.
“I couldn’t wrap my head around that,” EssaibiGeorge said. “I believe in that desire to want to save lives but figuring out the right type of kiosk to distribute the different types of drugs that people want to use, to me, is not the answer.”
Currently, Essaibi-George said, there are two methadone clinics in the area of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard, and she plans to discuss a proposal to allow local pharmacies to dispense methadone.
Councilors also plan to look at how much the city is spending on recovery and the resources being expended on the opioid crisis.
Eventually, EssaibiGeorge wants suburban lawmakers at the table because many people outside of Boston are coming to the city for support services.
“They’re coming because services are not available in their home communities,” she said.
It’s a difficult road for the council. None of these decisions are easy. But one thing is certain: much more needs to be done.