Barrie’s four supervised consumption site (SCS) choices all get thumbs down from one Barrie councillor.
Coun. Mike McCann says he doesn’t support 192 Bradford St., 19 Innisfil St., 11 Sophia St. W. or 110 Dunlop St. W., Unit 4.
“I believe for the people using an injection site, and for the people surrounding the injection site, whether it’s residential or business, is like oil and water. They just don’t mix,” said the Ward 10 councillor.
“And I believe our downtown has the possibility and potential of being one of the greatest downtowns in the country, and I believe an injection site is just the wrong place for the whole city as a community," he added.
An SCS provides a safe space and sterile equipment for individuals to use pre-obtained drugs under the supervision of health-care staff. It provides a place for people to use their own drugs under the care of nursing and other staff, who can connect clients to doctors, treatment and other health and social services. Consumption refers to taking opioids and other drugs by injection, smoking, snorting or orally.
The Canadian Mental Health Association's Simcoe County Branch and the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit are applying to operate an SCS in Barrie. The two agencies, with the support of the SCS selection advisory committee, are working on behalf of the harm reduction pillar of the Simcoe Muskoka Opioid Strategy (SMOS).
The final decision rests with the province and it’s expected to want city council's endorsement.
Only Coun. Sergio Morales has publicly voiced his preference, for either 19 Innisfil St., or 192 Bradford St.
McCann said he’d not against an SCS anywhere in Barrie, but it needs to be located with other so-called wraparound services, which Ontario’s Ministry of Health defines as services which connect clients who use drugs to primary care, treatment and other health and social services.
“We can integrate the people that right now are addicted to drugs, and get them off drugs,” he said. “We can get them into treatment, we can get them managing their addictions, get them into transitional homes, subsidized housing, part-time, full-time jobs, and hopefully the end result is we’ve got somebody that’s back into society.”
But to be clear, McCann said he doesn’t support an SCS with wraparound services in the downtown, either.
Mia Brown, the health unit's acting manager of substance use and injury prevention program, says these services will be available to SCS clients.
“We’re going to have wraparound services, absolutely. It’s a requirement by the province to have wraparound services at any site that they’re going to approve and fund,” she told BarrieToday. “You have to have wraparound services available.
"You don’t have to have them all in the same building," Brown added. "You have to have a plan for how you’re going to include those services, whether it’s referral or on-site.”
Brown said there would be pathways to connect clients with services, or drop-ins one or two days a week to provide services like HIV testing, sexual health support, wound care, etc.
The CMHA's Simcoe County Branch is the lead organization on the application.
"They’re going to be the operational organization for the site,” she said. “They are a partner that provides mental-health supports and counselling. So right there, there’s a wraparound service included in that SCS because of the organizational lead being the CMHA.
“It absolutely is part of our plan. It always has been part of our plan and is a requirement from the Ministry of Health application,” Brown added.
The application for an SCS is part of an action plan by the Simcoe Muskoka Opioid Strategy, a large partnership of agencies, organizations and individuals working to address the crisis of opioid use and overdose in the region.
Barrie’s Downtown BIA does not support the existence of an SCS within a one-kilometre radius of the current BIA boundary. Only 192 Bradford appears to be outside the BIA radius, at 1.3 kilometres away from its boundary.
The health unit says that between January and mid-September 2020, there were 94 confirmed and probable opioid-related deaths in Simcoe-Muskoka, of which 47 were in Barrie. Its rate was twice as high for this time period in 2020 to date compared to the average of 2017-2019, according to the health unit.
The search for a supervised consumption site in Barrie began in September 2019, when an advisory committee was struck. An online survey last October had more than 1,200 responses.
Those who live, work, own a business or go to school in Barrie are invited to offer their opinion on the four proposed SCS locations by filling out an online survey at www.smdhu.org/SCS, open until March 31, 2021. To request a paper copy of the survey by mail, call 1-877-721-7520 ext. 7333 and leave a voice mail. The anonymous survey is part of public consultations on a proposed service for people who use drugs.
In April, virtual neighbourhood consultations will also be offered for people who live, work or own a business nearby the potential site locations. More information about these sessions will be released in the coming weeks, the health unit says.
