1:15 p.m. update:
The City of Sault Ste. Marie has banned an unauthorized "injection tent" from operating on city property following public backlash against the organizer of a controversial 'safe space' for those who use drugs.
Members of the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service served a trespass notice at the site in the James Street area on Thursday.
Safe Space organizer Merissa Dinner has been widely criticized on social media for setting up in public what she has described to SooToday as a safe space for those who use drugs — namely, near a playground in the 100 block of James Street, and at the intersection of Gore Street and Albert Street East - without qualified staff or authorization from the federal government.
Sault Ste. Marie Police Service has confirmed that it recently attended two calls for service at the injection tent. One complaint centred on the tent being situated close to a playground, while another call to police was for a potential assault at the tent. No charges were laid in either instance.
Kristy Harper, program manager of community wellness and chief nursing officer for Algoma Public Health, tells SooToday that a supervised consumption site provides a safe, clean space for people to bring their own drugs to use in the presence of trained staff, preventing accidental overdoses and reducing the spread of infectious diseases, such as HIV and hepatitis C.
Harper adds that approved supervised consumption sites usually provide access to important health and social services, including substance use treatment for those who are ready.
Although Safe Space’s organizer has petitioned the federal government for an exemption that would allow it to operate, the injection tent is not recognized as a supervised consumption site. According to previous article from SooToday, Safe Space is a registered not-for-profit, running with the help of donations from the community and through a GoFundMe campaign that has yielded $400 to date.
The health unit, however, says that operating a supervised consumption site for medical purposes requires a Health Canada exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, and that applications to Health Canada usually involve “many health and social sector partnerships, and must include consultation with a broad range of people in the community.”
“At this time, there are no supervised consumption sites in Algoma. SCS [supervised consumption site] applications are reviewed by Health Canada, not APH, and APH does not approve or sanction activities that bypass this process, without appropriate consultation with community members,” Harper said.
The health unit says that while it offers its own harm reduction services - including needle exchange, naloxone distribution and a compilation of mental health and addiction support services for the public health region - there are some potential risks associated with unregulated injection sites in general.
“Research has shown that supervised consumption sites that are operated by trained staff and set up with appropriate community consultations are able to reduce the risk of unintentional overdoses, connect people to health and social services, reduce public drug use and discarded drug equipment, and reduce the strain on emergency medical services so they can focus on other emergencies,” said Harper. “If harm reduction supports are not offered by trained staff, there is a risk that people accessing the site may not be receiving the appropriate care they need. And if a site does not appropriately engage and consult with local community members, this can lead to community concerns and input not being inadequately addressed.”
Sault Area Hospital and Algoma Ontario Health Team didn’t respond to SooToday’s request for interviews and information. The local branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association abruptly cancelled an interview with SooToday Friday.
Dinner, who launched Safe Space in January 2021, initially agreed to an interview with SooToday Friday, but requested that the interview be rescheduled for next week.
The health unit says that opioid-related harms, including deaths, continue to rise in Algoma. According to APH, there have been 42 opioid-related deaths in the public health region since the beginning of the pandemic to the end of 2020 - a significantly higher number than the 15 deaths that occurred in the same time period the previous year.
Original story:
A downtown injection site has been ordered off city property, according to Sault Ste. Marie Police Service.
In a news release issued today, police say the City issued a notice yesterday to the site's organizer, stating "they shall not occupy city property without authorization and must immediately stop using city property for the purpose of an injection site."
Police say organizers discontinued activity and left the area.