The question of whether there should be a supervised injection site in Hamilton’s downtown core is about to go before the city’s board of health.
If approved, public health staff recommend that it be located within an area bounded by Queen and Wellington Streets and Main and Barton Streets.
A needs assessment and feasibility study goes before the board at a meeting next Monday.
Supporters of the proposal include Ward 1 Councillor Aidan Johnson who says the best argument in favour of safe injection sites is that they “save lives.”
He points to other cities that have introduced them and seen “reductions in deaths related to opioids.”
Johnson says a secondary argument is that safe sites take injections out of alleyways and other public spaces and into a controlled environment, which he terms a “community benefit.”
Ontario’s Ministry of Health funds safe injection sites and, so far, has provided about $6 million for seven of them in Toronto and Ottawa.