Report on community support for supervised consumption sites

CSCS Ottawa has released a report entitled Community Support for a Supervised Consumption Site in Ottawa.

This report provides an account of recent initiatives undertaken by the group to engage with members of the community on the subject of supervised drug consumption sites.

In particular, it presents the results of the residential and business canvassing campaigns conducted in Ottawa’s Lowertown and ByWard Market neighbourhoods in the spring and summer of 2013.

Our purpose in undertaking this activity was firstly to draw attention to the serious health crisis facing people who use drugs in Ottawa, and secondly to gather the opinions of those who live and work in an area of the city most impacted by problematic drug use.

We hope that by sharing this information with fellow community members, frontline health and social service providers, politicians, police, and the media, we can attract support to our campaign and ultimately meet our goal of seeing supervised consumption sites opened in Ottawa.

Download: pdf Community Support for a Supervised Consumption Site in Ottawa

Summary

In 2013, CSCS volunteers went door-to-door to residences in Lowertown, providing information on supervised consumption sites and gathering feedback on a short questionnaire. Canvassers spoke with 115 residents.

  • 76% said they thought that supervised drug consumption sites should be opened in Ottawa.
  • 80% of residents who believed supervised consumption sites should be created in Ottawa supported a site opening in their own neighbourhood.

Members of CSCS also visited businesses in the ByWard Market, speaking with business owners, managers, and senior staff about drug use and community health in the neighbourhood. 78 people responded to an informal survey.

  • 73% said they thought that supervised drug consumption sites should be opened in Ottawa.
  • 86% of those who supported supervised consumption sites in Ottawa thought that a site should be located in the ByWard Market area.

Conclusion

The results of the residential and business canvassing undertaken by CSCS Ottawa are clear.

Although only an informal survey of the attitudes of people in the community, these campaigns have revealed that far more support for supervised consumption sites exists in Ottawa than may have previously been thought.

In dozens of conversations, residents and businesses in Lowertown and the ByWard Market expressed their belief that drug use is an important health and safety issue in their community.

The vast majority of people asked believe that there is a need for supervised consumption sites in Ottawa — to address the epidemic of HIV and hepatitis C facing drug users, prevent overdose deaths, and get drug use off the street.

The right to adequate health care for drug users has been affirmed by the Supreme Court. People who use drugs in Ottawa are calling for these services to meet their health care needs.

These results demonstrate that people who live and work in a neighbourhood affected by problematic drug use support the creation of supervised consumption facilities.

It’s time to heed the call from the community and take action to establish supervised drug consumption sites in Ottawa.