Health officials miffed by 'holding pattern' for Barrie SCS

It’s still a waiting game for Barrie’s supervised consumption site/consumption and treatment services (SCS/CTS) facility.

It requires approval from the province, which must fund capital and operating costs.

The Barrie proposal was endorsed by the previous city council in June 2021 at 11 Innisfil St.

Valerie Grdisa, CEO of Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Simcoe County Branch, which is the lead agency for the Barrie application, said there’s been silence from the province to this point.

“Not a word, no updates – nothing despite the letters sent in 2022 and 2023 by the (Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit) and CMHA Simcoe County Branch board,” she said.

Is there a sense of frustration that this is taking so long?

“I would say more concern as the opioid-related deaths and overdoses have alarmingly escalated, due to unsafe drug supply,” Grdisa said.

Late last month, Addictions and Mental Health Ontario said Ontario is, for the fifth straight year, on pace for more than 3,000 drug-poisoning deaths, or more than eight a day. 

CMHA Ontario also said there is a recent increase in suspected drug-poisoning deaths for the week starting Feb. 18 in the Barrie and Innisfil area, and impacting other areas throughout Simcoe-Muskoka.

An SCS/CTS provides a safe space and sterile equipment for people to use pre-obtained drugs under the supervision of health-care staff. Consumption means taking opioids and other drugs by injection, smoking, snorting or orally.

Ontario paused all pending and new SCS/CTS applications after a shooting outside a Toronto site last summer.

“So I get it that an investigation, inquiry takes time to complete, but in the meanwhile, communities have been waiting two to three years, in a holding pattern,” Grdisa said.

There’s also another very practical reason the CMHA Simcoe County Branch wants a decision on the Barrie site at 11 Innisfil St.

“I can’t keep paying rent for space that the government won’t commit to either way,” Grdisa said. “The reality for me is we would just like a response.”

Michael Tibollo, Ontario’s associate minister of mental health and addictions, estimated a two-month timeline for the review two months ago.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford suggested he's not looking to change the total number of sites across the province, which his government has capped at 21. 

“We're at 17, so there's four more to go," he said Monday.

Despite what advocates say are the proven effectiveness of SCS/CTS facilities in saving lives, they say the Ontario government has dragged its heels for more than two years in some cases, including efforts to bring such a facility to Barrie. 

The Barrie proposal has federal approval to operate, a Controlled Drugs and Substances Act exemption from Health Canada that allows facility staff the ability to test and handle drugs without any criminal sanctions.

What it lacks is provincial approval, dollars from Queen's Park to fund operating costs for Barrie’s facility, pay for its staff, equipment and maintenance. 

— With files from The Trillium