Le débat au sujet d'un centre d'injection supervisée au centre-ville d'Ottawa refait surface. Un groupe de personnes a fait du porte-à-porte, samedi, pour sensibiliser la population du marché By à la nécessité d'un tel centre.
Le groupe, qui compte une douzaine de bénévoles, sollicite des appuis. Déjà, ils ont amassé près de 2000 signatures sur une pétition pour la création d'un endroit où les toxicomanes pourraient s'injecter de la drogue sous la supervision d'un employé. Ces bénévoles proviennent de différents milieux, dont le système de santé et les services sociaux. Le groupe compte également d'anciens toxicomanes.
On April 27th and 28th, members of the Campaign for Safer Consumption Sites (CSCS) will be doing door-to-door campaigning to residences and businesses within the ByWard Market. Residents and business owners will be surveyed about their perception of drug use in the market, and asked if they would publicly support the opening of a supervised drug consumption site in their neighbourhood.
A recent fact-finding trip to Europe by members of the Somerset West Community Health Centre has inspired new discussions among community organizers about safe injection sites in Ottawa.
Two board members and an employee from the centre visited four cities in Germany and the Netherlands last fall to research supervised safe injection sites, says the centre’s executive director, Jack McCarthy.
In an interview on CBC Ottawa Morning, Sean LeBlanc of the Drug Users Advocacy League talks about the success and benefits of harm reduction methods, and the stigma against drug users.
"I can't be in recovery from drugs if I'm dying of HIV or of overdose... I'm proud to see value in everybody's life, and that people do deserve second chances."
On the busy streets of the ByWard Market, people are always in a rush to get where they need to be. Nobody grants the man sitting on the sidewalk, holding an empty cup, any attention.
Though he is asking for money, he does not raise his eyes to meet anyone. His clothes are torn, his skin dirtied from nights of sleeping on the streets. Most passersby also avert their eyes of the man standing behind him. Christopher Dalton is here to lend his voice to the voiceless.
What can the Netherlands and Germany teach Ottawa about supervised drug consumption rooms and the treatment of drug addicts?
That’s the question representatives from the Somerset West Community Health Centre recently tried to answer during a fact-finding trip to Europe.
Joining staff and board members from the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre, our team met with government officials and harm reduction experts, as well as frontline workers and engaged community members who live near supervised drug consumption facilities.
More can be done to provide better access to prevention, harm reduction and treatment services for drug users and alcoholics, the city’s public health unit heard during a survey of community agencies and addicts.
Their feedback also suggests there’s work to be done to increase peer involvement, better integrate services with mental health and housing support, and expand work in schools. The feedback comes in an interim report on a “gap analysis” of programs and services that’s to go to the city’s board of health on Monday. A full report is expected later this year.
Researchers and harm reduction advocates are calling for supervised drug injection facilities for Ottawa.
The authors of the Toronto and Ottawa Supervised Consumption Assessment (TOSCA) presented their findings during an event at the Ottawa Public Library’s main branch on Metcalfe Street on Thursday evening. The event was held in recognition of AIDS Awareness Week.
The TOSCA report, released on April 11 2012, recommended opening supervised drug injection sites in Ottawa, as well as Toronto.
Researchers behind a four-year scientific study have recommended the establishment of two safe injection sites for Ottawa which they say would help drug users and reduce drug use in the capital.
Dr. Ahmed Bayoumi and Dr. Carol Strike presented the findings of the Toronto and Ottawa Supervised Consumption Assessment on Thursday evening. The researchers participated in a panel discussion with representatives of the Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa and the Drug Users Advocacy League, as part of Ottawa AIDS Awareness Week.
Rick Sproule from the Drug Users Advocacy League interviewed on CBC Ottawa Morning with Robyn Bresnahan about the call from researchers & members of the public for the creation of supervised drug consumption sites in Ottawa.
