Calls for inhalation spaces grow after 2 supervised injection sites close

The temporary closureof two supervised injection sites in Ottawahighlights the need for spacewhere people can more safely inhale illicit drugs, the director of one of the sites says.

On Friday, both the Sandy Hill and Somerset West communityhealth centres halted service at their supervised sitesuntil further notice pending investigationby the province.

Staff at both sitessaid harmful fumes had been emitted when drugs wereheated for inhalation.

All other harm reduction services at both sites remain open.

• 2 harm reduction hubs halt their supervised injection services

The director of the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre'sprogram which includes supervised injection said clientsare using the facility to prepare drugs for inhalation, which is not allowed. Users then go outside to inhale them.

"Our overdoses used to occur just inside our safe injection site,"said Wendy Stewart.

"Now, 25 per centof our overdoses are occurring outside our [site] and most of them, if not all, are related to inhalation."

Having supervised inhalation sites in Ottawa would both protect workers and save lives, she said.

An Ottawa Public Health report last year found the rate of accidental opioid overdose deaths caused by inhalation more than doubledto39 per cent in2022 from 16 per cent four years earlier.

Its data shows 93 people died from a confirmed opioid overdose in the first six months of 2023, the most recent data available.

The Somerset West centre's executive director Suzanne Obiorahsaid in an emailithas applied to Health Canada for permission to allow clients to snort, swallow and inject drugs under staff supervision in itsoutdoor courtyard.

The exemption would not allow inhalation, but "as we learn more and more about drug usage in the community, we are also learning about the need for safer inhalation services," Obiorah said.

Workers splittingefforts to keep users safe

A member of the grassroots group Overdose Prevention Ottawa (OPO) saidhavingsaferinhalation sites would help concentrate resourcesand stop people from overdosing in private.

CBC spoke with Leah Podobniklast monthwhen the Sandy Hill centre began detecting an animal tranquilizer in drug samples.

"We need to set up spaces where people can go and inhale their substances so we don't have three people overdosing outside and two people overdosing inside," she said.

That would also help prevent harm reduction workers splitting their efforts and "running outside and dealing with people overdosing in snowbanks," Podobnik added.

OPO operated its own supervised injection site, which included an inhalation tent, in a Lowertownpark for several months in 2017.It closed following pressure from local political leaders and the opening of the Sandy Hill site.

The OPO site was "run by activists who saw the importance of it," Podobnik said, adding that inhalation sites have traditionally been excluded from the province's response to the overdose crisis.

In 2022, Toronto'sCasey House becamethe first in Ontario to offer indoor supervised inhalation.

Stewart thinks it's essential Ottawa be able tooffer the same.

"Often drug policy and legislation tends to lag behind the current need," she said. "This is the next step in terms of saving lives and actually having appropriate interventions in place."