There is some cautious optimism in Hamilton now that the Ford government has decided to review the issue of safe injection sites instead of just cutting them.
Premier Doug Ford said during the election campaign that he didn’t like them.
WATCH: Hoskins hopes new regulations will protect safe injection sites from federal prosecution
Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliot says the success of safe injection sites will be reviewed to see if they are effective in the fight against the province’s opioid overdose crisis.
A recent Hamilton Public Health study suggests Hamilton’s overdose rate is 72 per cent higher than the provincial rate.
The city’s only safe injection site is at Hamilton Urban Core Community Health Centre on Rebecca Street, but it only has funding through November.
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LISTEN: Coun. Jason farr on safe injection sites
Ward 2 councillor Jason Farr says a provincial review gives the city a chance to make its case for the continuation of the site.
He says it’s “somewhat reassuring because going across the province where safe injection sites have been implemented, there will be the opportunity to show that they are, indeed, worthwhile.”
Farr’s ward is home to the city’s only safe injection site and adds “there’s no doubt this is a crisis and Hamilton has only one site at Hamilton Urban Core. They can get some numbers to indicate we’re putting a dent into the crisis.”
He thinks one of the things the province will find “in this community and other communities that have temporary or full-time sites is that there is value and they do offer a capacity to help people. That it isn’t just a place to go, get injected and move on. There’s a whole slew of opportunities to get well and get off that addiction.”
Farr asks, “What’s the alternative to a safe injection site? Drug addicts going back to using unsafe sites like public parks?”
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