Consumption site ban will lead to more deaths, northern officials say

Northern officials say safe consumption services are still needed to keep patients alive and connect them to treatment.

While they welcome the province's funding of new homeless and addictions treatment centres, officials said people will be at risk of overdose until those facilities are ready.

More than a year after pausing funding for new supervised consumption sites, Queen's Park announced this week it intends to ban them this fall, along with ordering the immediate closure of any site within 200 metres of a school or a daycare.

The northeast region no longer has safe consumption sites, after the closure of The Spot in Sudbury and Safe Health Site Timmins.

CTV News has been told their applications for permanent sites have been denied.

Instead, the province said it will fund 19 homelessness and addictions treatment centres, which officials said will be helpful -- when they open.

"You can't go to treatment if you're dead," said Amber Fritz of Reseau Access Network.

"You can't get housed if you're dead. So I'm wondering how this is going to address what is actually driving this crisis."

"They are closing services before new services are going to be in place," said NDP Health Critic France Gelinas

"What do you think will happen to all those sick people?"

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The answer, Gelinas said, is some of them will die.

Fritz said 77 people in the Sudbury-Manitoulin district have died of an overdose from January to July this year.

In Timmins, paramedics say overdoses are up since July.

While officials in the north welcome the province's funding of new homeless and addictions treatment centres, officials said people will be at risk of overdose until those facilities are ready. (Photo from video)

"The reality is, is that we've had an increase of about 16 per cent, during that same time frame from last year," said Seamus Murphy of Cochrane District EMS

And Murphy said many of those overdoses involved injections, something Safe Health Site Timmins treated.

Timmins Mayor Michelle Boileau said these issues will intensify.

"The mental health and addictions crisis will just continue to get worse," Boileau said.

"And with the reduction of services, we can anticipate that things might get worse."

Boileau said city partners had been working on applying for a wellness centre, which makes the province's announcement well-timed and it will be effective in the long term.

Proven to help

In the meantime, health officials cite research the province ignored showing the value of safe consumption sites in both preventing deaths and connecting people to services.

"They're trying to get treatment for the people that need it, instead of just allowing the consumption alone," Murphy said.

"The thing that was happening with our safe consumption site was that they were actually accessing that long-term treatment. It was proven."

"It wasn't like, you know, you come in and you consume drugs and that's it," Fritz added.

"We offered wraparound support."

Fritz said she hopes the new homelessness and addictions treatment centres will work as intended.

Boileau said Timmins could get one by the end of next year.

In the meantime, Murphy said paramedics will have to pick up the slack since they are equipped with drug therapies and can refer patients to services when responding to overdoses.