Thunder Bay's safe drug use site 'not just a place to come get high,' says client amid Ontario closure fallout
Sarah Law | CBC News | Posted: August 23, 2024 8:00 AM | Last Updated: August 23
Juanita Lawson of Path 525 says staff was never consulted about province's new plan
For years, Michael Baker has been a client at Path 525, the only safe drug consumption site in Thunder Bay, Ont., and says staff there have saved his life over a dozen times.
Baker is also a volunteer at the site and says he, in turn, has helped saved the lives of a dozen people who've overdosed by using naloxone kits provided by Path 525.
News this week that Path 525 — along with nine other safe consumption sites in the province — will close next year has left him devastated.
"It's not just a place [for] safe injection. It's not just a place to come get high. It's the hub, I guess, of Thunder Bay's harm reduction network," said Baker, who has been without a permanent home for several years and lives in a tent.
"It's a place to get referrals to other programs."
Path 525, which is run by NorWest Community Health Centres (NWCHC), opened in 2018. Last summer, Ontario launched a "critical incident review" of all safe consumption sites following a fatal shooting of a woman near one in Toronto.
Juanita Lawson, chief executive officer of NorWest, said the province never shared the results of Path 525's review with her team.
"We did complete, as an organization, a comprehensive community safety audit last fall, and have been implementing some of those changes that were required and requested or recommended," Lawson said.
WATCH | Ontario's closure of 10 drug consumption sites defies expert advice:
Health Minister Sylvia Jones announced Tuesday that the province is banning SCS within 200 metres of schools and child-care centres, forcing five in Toronto and five in other individual cities to close by March 31, 2025. Path 525 is located around the corner from Ogden Community Public School.
The news has been met with much criticism, as documents show the closures go against the advice of the province's own experts.
Lawson said she's disappointed the services her team has been offering for years — and the clients who rely on them — "are really being stigmatized."
"We know there's significant pressure on the community, but we also know that the consumption and treatment service is not the cause of the ills that are taking place," she said.
Hundreds of overdoses reversed
Staff reversed 365 overdoses at Path 525 between 2021 and the first half of 2024, said Lawson.
Last month, there were 1,266 visits by people accessing food, showers, housing support and supplies. A total of 318 people went there for safe drug consumption and 135 people were provided primary health care, she said.
"There's a school across the street, which is unfortunate, but the drugs [were] done here before the facility opened," noted Baker.
CBC News reached out to the health minister's office for comment on whether it consulted with the NWCHC about the closure of Path 525 or its review. Alexandra Adamo, executive director of communications for Jones, did not directly answer those questions.
"The crime data speaks for itself. In Thunder Bay, the neighbourhood with the CTS (consumption and treatment services) site slated for closure [has] a marked increase in crime when compared to the rest of the city," Adamo said in an email on Thursday.
Adamo did not say where the Health Ministry got its crime data from and did not respond to whether Path 525 could remain open if it was moved further away from Ogden Community Public School.
CBC News asked the Thunder Bay Police Service (TBPS) for a breakdown of criminal activity in neighbourhoods.
Spokesperson Matt Vis told CBC News the service was reviewing the available data, but "there are many factors that contribute to the prevalence of reported criminal activity and police calls for service in any particular area."
HART hub application on its way
Community advocates are calling for the province to reverse its decision or allow Path 525 to relocate.
For its part, Ontario says it's spending $378 million on 19 new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) hubs and is encouraging SCS operators to transition to this model.
The hubs won't allow supervised drug consumption, safer supply or needle exchange programs — all of which are offered at Path 525. NWCHC is expecting an application next week to apply to become a hub, Lawson said.
"We're looking forward to working with our partners around what should this model look like and hearing from our staff who are well versed … about what's important to incorporate," she said.
The City of Thunder Bay issued a statement late Tuesday saying it was disappointed with news of Path 525's closure, but expects the community will be "considered an essential HART hub location."
Rat poison, animal tranquillizers in street supply
When Baker first came to Path 525, he brought in drugs to use in the presence of health-care professionals in case he overdosed. Clients have the option to get their drugs tested before they use them, but it is not mandatory.
After experiencing so many overdoses, Baker eventually started using the safer supply program, and now receives a prescription for hydromorphone as an alternative to the street supply. He hasn't overdosed since being on the program.
"It's the exact same every time," he said. "The thing about fentanyl or the street drugs that you buy, you could buy the very same block of drug and one batch — one piece could have one strength and the next piece could be 10 times stronger."
While HART hubs won't allow drug consumption, it is unclear whether they will permit drug testing, Lawson said.
WATCH | How Thunder Bay's drug testing machine works:
NWCHC issued two drug alerts this week: turquoise fentanyl containing rat poison sent multiple people to hospital and brown fentanyl caused a number of overdoses.
Out of 55 drug-checking tests completed last month, only 38 per cent of substances came back as expected.
"We were actually able to tell those clients, who were able to get the word out on the street right away, that that's not something that anybody wants to be using," said Brittany D'Angelo, NWCHC's director of mental health and substance use programs.
Staff educated clients about street drugs containing household cleaners and animal tranquillizers.
"We also see things like benzodiazepines in the supply or opioids that are even stronger than what it is the person was meaning to buy," D'Angelo said. "We're even seeing [opioids] where somebody wasn't even meaning to buy an opioid."
Being able to test drugs also gives health-care providers a better sense of what they're dealing with, she said.
'He didn't want to die'
Debbie Reed lost her son Johnny in March 2020. She describes him as a lover of the outdoors who enjoyed fishing, camping, playing sports and spending time with his family.
"Johnny was 'Mr. Funny' and he was super good looking. We called him 'Hollywood' and he knew it," Reed said.
Johnny died at age 29 after dealing with addiction for a decade. He left behind two young daughters. Going to Path 525 was part of his routine.
"He relied on that service there and he got his drugs tested there because he didn't want to die," Reed said. "He wanted to get off the drugs and he knew that there was counselling and treatment there."
Since her son's death, Reed has become involved in Thunder Bay's recovery community and has found healing through connecting with other mothers who have lost children to addiction.
To her, closing Path 525 means disconnecting clients from a system that keeps them alive.
"They're not dead and their families are forever grateful. These are the people that Doug Ford needs to talk to, not the people who speak out against this program because they don't understand it," Reed said.
He relied on that service there, and he got his drugs tested there because he didn't want to die. - Debbie Reed of Thunder Bay, Ont., says of her late son
In addition to keeping Path 525 open, Reed wants to see more doctors offering addiction services in Thunder Bay, more training around mental health and substance use and treatment options in the new correctional complex under construction.
For now, she leans on the strength of Thunder Bay's recovery community.
"When I sit with my arms wrapped around these guys, I can feel my son smiling down at me because there is nothing that he would like more than to see his mom getting better — and getting better with the joy of recovery," she said of her journey through grief.
Baker has become a registered volunteer at Path 525 and helps clean up the neighbourhood. His plan was to wean off the safer supply program to ease into recovery. If the program ends before he reaches that goal, he isn't sure what he'll do.
"Right now, I want the freedom of having a normal life," he said.
An event is planned for Wednesday, Aug. 28, at Waverley Park from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. ET in recognition of International Overdose Awareness Day at the end of this month. The event will feature community resource booths, a community art activity, overdose prevention training, free naloxone kits and activities to honour those who died or have been injured by overdose.