Pending zoning approval, the new 12-bed detoxification and treatment program approved for Peterborough will be based at a current safe bed building used by Canadian Mental Health Association in the city’s north end.
On Monday night, Peterborough city council approved a resolution supporting the CMHA Haliburton-Kawartha Pine Ridge branch’s request for a Minister’s Zoning Oder (MZO) to rezone 24 Paddock Wood from a residential designation to a public service designation. The designation would permit a 12-bed detoxification centre within the current building.
READ MORE: 12-bed residential detox and addiction program approved for Peterborough area
The CMHA HKPR branch currently uses the building for a non-medical safe bed program to assist individuals 16 and older facing mental health crises. Individuals are often referred to the program by health professionals.
Last week, the Ontario government announced over $1.1 million to support 12 addiction treatment beds to help address the opioid crisis and substance abuse in the region. Peterborough city and county are each providing $100,000 to the two-year pilot program.
At the time, Peterborough-Kawartha MPP Dave Smith said a site location would be announced at a later date but noted it would not be in the downtown.
On Tuesday, Smith confirmed Paddock Wood will be the site for the program, which will offer six residential treatment beds and six residential withdrawal management beds. He noted the MZO request will allow the province to expeditiously rezone the property.
“I can now confirm that this location is the intended site for the residential detox and rehab facility,” Smith said.
The Paddock House building suffered damage during a fire in August 2020. Operations at the building resumed in October of that year.
Overdoses data
According to the latest data on Peterborough Public Health’s opioid harms portal, from January to April of this year, there were 26 suspected fatal drug doses. There were three deaths reported last month.
Over the last 12 months (May 2022 to April 2023), there were 65 suspected fatal drug poisonings — an average of one every six days. For 2022, there were 59 suspected fatal overdoses.
In April 2023, there were 39 visits to the Peterborough Regional Health Centre’s emergency department for opioid overdoses, up from 34 visits reported in March, 32 in February and 33 in January. For all of 2022, there were 539 overdoses requiring an ER visit.
From May 2022 to April 2023, there were 504 drug poisonings that required a visit to the ER, and 53 per cent of the incidents involved men. Fifty-one per cent of the visits were by people between the ages of 25 and 44.