Hamilton’s city council has finalized an endorsement of a community organization’s application to provide a safe space where users can inject drugs in a supervised setting.
If approved by Ontario’s Ministry of Health, the city’s second supervised consumption site will be located at 746 Barton St. E. and operated by the AIDS Network.
The decision comes days after Hamilton’s board of health gave a thumbs up to the additional safe injection site following a staff report revealing opioid-related overdoses and deaths in Hamilton have increased more than 200 per cent over the last five years.
The Hamilton opioid death rate is currently 45 per cent greater than Ontario’s average.
During the first 10 months of last year alone, there were 139 confirmed or probable opioid-related deaths in the city.
Yet the concept of another CTS site is already facing opposition with close to 1,200 residents having signed a petition opposing the location, citing debris, an over-concentration of services and proximity to an elementary school.
Ward 3 Coun. Nrinder Nann, who backed the proposal, said that the issue has divided the neighbourhood and that she has been receiving some correspondence from constituents.
“I’ve heard from neighbours who live in the area about being afraid of the unsafe drug use, impacting their comfort in public spaces,” Nann told councillors on Wednesday.
“There’s also been a vocal few who’ve not only been inciting fear, but also intimidating neighbours near the Barton Larder area who have been supportive of consumption treatment centres.”
However, Nann said the city’s current response to “people dying in the hundreds” is simply “not satisfactory.”
Hamilton already has one approved CTS site, operated by Hamilton Urban Core Community Health, temporarily located at 70 James St., soon to be re-located to 430 Cannon St. E., upon completion of a new building.
Ten days ago, public health proposed renewal of its local opioid response plan incorporating leadership from health and social service agencies across the city to develop and implement a “comprehensive and integrated plan.”
Hamilton’s current drug strategy was enacted in 2017 and led to hospital partners providing access to treatment services as well as safe consumption sites at Hamilton Urban Core Community Health Centre and Carole Anne’s Place.
Public health has put mental health and addictions as a departmental priority in 2023 after data revealed paramedics responded to 814 incidents related to suspected opioid overdoses in 2022, almost double the 430 seen in 2017.