The London Police Services Board has thrown its support behind opening supervised drug consumption sites within the city.
On Thursday, the police board unanimously endorsed supervised consumption sites as part of a broad strategy to address the opioid crisis in London. Supervised drug consumption sites provide a place for people with addictions to consume narcotics under the supervision and care of medical professionals.
"This endorsement is a way for the police services board to say 'we are in, we are committed to this approach.' Now we call on every other stakeholder to commit to this approach and commit to all of the resources that are necessary to solve this issue," said board Vice Chair Susan Toth. "It shows... just how strong the evidence is to support how effective supervised consumption sites are in terms of harm reduction, improving neighbourhoods and reducing the amount of [discarded] needles. It also shows that the board and administration at London police recognize that harm reduction is the dignity and compassionate approach to dealing with a crisis."
The Middlesex-London Health Unit is currently in the process of applying to Health Canada to establish supervised drug consumption sites in London at two proposed sites -- 446 York St. and 241 Simcoe St. The application process gained provincial support this week, but still requires federal approval as well as municipal zoning permits.
After hearing from Dr. Christopher Mackie, the medical officer of health and chief executive of the Middlesex-London Health Unit, as well as some local community groups, Toth said it was the right time for the board to support the strategy.
"Whether it's the school board, whether it's the police services board, we all have a role to play in deciding how are we going to save lives, reduce harm and address a crisis that in London alone has killed 400 people," she said.
Toth says that while board members support having the drug consumption sites in the city, that does not necessarily mean they endorse the two proposed site locations.
"It is a general endorsement," said Toth, adding that the board defers to the expertise of the health unit. "As a board, we don't have the expertise to look at the data analyses of where these sites would be the most useful but we certainly support the work the health unit has done in identifying the sites that would be most helpful. In fact, if anyone was wondering whether or not this is in my backyard, I actually live 700 metres away from one of the proposed sites and still fully support it."
The police board's endorsement comes less than a week after a contrasting statement from Windsor Police Chief Al Frederick, who has publicly said his force will oppose opening a safe injection site in Windsor.
"I don't know what the Windsor Police Services Board feels. I know that the chief came out and his comments seemed to be related to the evidence piece. To me, the evidence is very much there, so I am not sure if this is a case where we simply have the benefit of having more access to that evidence," said Toth. "I can't speak to how the chief in Windsor didn't have access to that evidence but certainly in our case, we felt strongly that it was there."
-With files from Miranda Chant
https://twitter.com/TothSusan/status/997196900930637824