SafePoint pause putting lives at risk, advocates say

The pause in operations at Windsor's SafePoint supervised consumption site means the community will "see people die," advocates say.

Michael Brennan is the executive director of Pozitive Pathways, a harm reduction organization for people with HIV/AIDS in Windsor. 

"I wish they would focus more on policy around an overdose response policy as it pertains to a drug policy that isn't working for our region and to continue to build capacity for people who use substances and services in the community rather than being punitive based on one critical incident that happened in the province," Brennan said. 

The closure of SafePoint means people who use substances will have less control over their health care, Brennan added 

"This is a barrier in terms of accessing support and care in our community," he said. 

In November, the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit made the decision to "pause" operations at SafePoint effective Dec. 31 until the provincial government agrees to fund the site.  

The Ontario government last year said it was undertaking a review of all supervised consumption sites in the province after a woman was killed by a stray bullet outside a site in Toronto. 

At the time, a provincial government spokesperson told CBC News CTS locations are "expected to build trust in the communities where they are located through consultation and ongoing engagement, and we understand the importance of community feedback in this matter.

"These reviews will inform the next steps taken by the Ministry of Health."

The health unit had previously said the site cost about $700,000 per year to operate and had been funding it independently in the absence of provincial funding. 

While services at SafePoint are paused, a spokesperson for WECHU said a list of other resources available to the public is available online at wecoss.ca/cts. 

"An updated report on usage will be provided at our January Board of Health meeting, which will capture stats for the month of December," a spokesperson for WECHU said. 

"At this time, the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit has not received any new updates from the province regarding expected timelines for the provincial review."

Issues aren't going away with SafePoint closure: advocate

About two dozen people attended a vigil at SafePoint on Monday, said Travis Laver, a harm reduction organizer in Windsor. 

"I think it's imperative that we put all of our levels of government's feet to the fire to fund these things," Laver said. "In the absence of that, you know, there's a long history of communities themselves running these sites and maybe that's something we have to look into as well."

Laver said the loss of the site will put people at risk. 

"It's no replacement for a safe consumption site, but you know the community is going to look after itself regardless and this kind of stuff is happening whether or not it's sanctioned," Laver said. 

"I think it's important for people to know that just by saying OK, we're going to close this site, doesn't really mean that these issues are going away.

"We're going to see  an increase in overdoses with an increase in deaths. We know that these sites reduce those dramatically … We're going to see people die as a result of this decision."

'Let' just get this funded'

Brennan says he hopes the province will expedite its review but, he says, he's not hopeful.

"Let's just get this funded. Let's get people connected to care, let's reduce overdoses in the community, and let's get people connected to the treatment and recovery that they require."

"I am not hopeful that that will happen quickly because political rhetoric seems to be outweighing actual policy development in our community."