The model version of a supervised drug injection site proposed for Ottawa's Lowertown neighbourhood was open to the public Monday.

Organizers wanted to use the opportunity to address community concerns and answer questions to win support.

More than 100 people crammed into a small building at 216 Murray St. Monday morning for a tour of the mock site.

Des représentants communautaires invitent les résidents d'Ottawa à visiter, lundi matin, un centre d'injection de drogue supervisée factice. Ils souhaitent ainsi sensibiliser la population aux avantages d'offrir des services aux toxicomanes et d'améliorer la santé de ces derniers.

Sean LeBlanc of the Drug Users Advocacy League gives CBC Ottawa Morning a tour of the mock supervised injection room set up at 216 Murray St.

► Click to play

Ottawa got an idea Monday of how a supervised injection site would work if one should be allowed to set up shop in the city.

There is currently only one supervised injection site in Canada — the Insite facility in Vancouver — but a mock injection site was setup on Murray St. in Lowertown.

A campaign was launched today for a safe consumption site for drug users in Ottawa.

Currently, Vancouver is the only city in Canada to have a safe consumption site. It provides a place where addicts can use illegal drugs under supervision from a nurse, with access to clean needles, and have information about addiction recovery programs.

The Campaign for Safer Consumption Sites in Ottawa says it wants to open a site in the Byward Market.

Canada's first supervised injection site didn't increase crime in Vancouver's troubled Downtown Eastside.

But Insite didn't decrease it, either.

That's what numbers and experience tell Insp. Scott Thompson, the Vancouver Police Department's drug policy co-ordinator and downtown district commander.

Status quo or vague statements about improving access to drug treatment isn’t an option for the head of infectious diseases at the Ottawa Hospital.

Mark Tyndall is working with Sandy Hill Community Health Centre, the Drug User Advocacy League and other community partners to apply to Health Canada so Ottawa can open the country’s second supervised injection site.

On the second anniversary of the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision that affirmed the value and benefits of supervised injection services at Insite in Vancouver, community health workers have set up a mock supervised injection site for public viewing in an effort to bring the health crisis among people who use drugs in Ottawa to the attention of the public.

What: Mock supervised injection site and presentation by speakers. Public welcome.
When: Monday September 30th, 2013. 9:30am–12:00pm. Speakers start at 10am.
Where: 216 Murray Street, Ottawa, Ontario

Addicts can’t get off drugs if they’re dead. 

So says a former user offering a peek inside a mock supervised injection site next Monday as part of the push to bring one to Ottawa.

But the city’s police chief has new concerns, citing a lack of a concrete plan or consultation.

Sean LeBlanc, of the Drug Users Advocacy League (DUAL), said the city’s 6,000-plus IV drug users who shoot up prescription drugs or crack need help desperately.