Four potential locations for supervised injection sites in Waterloo Region have been made public.
The recommendation from regional health officials, which was released Friday, is to create one injection site in south Cambridge and another in central Kitchener.
Cambridge locations proposed for further study are located at 149 Ainslie Street North and 150 Main Street. In Kitchener, one proposed location is 115 Water Street North. The other potential site has not been released publicly, pending confirmation that it can definitely be made available for that purpose.
149 Ainslie Street North is currently home to the Cambridge Family Early Years Centre and offices, while 150 Main Street is a region-owned building hosting various government services.
The known Kitchener location, 115 Water Street North, is a home that would be renovated and continue to be owned by The Working Centre.
Public health officials say the recommended sites for further study were selected based on factors including anticipated demand and a desire to keep injection sites away from businesses and children. According to a report prepared for regional councillors, 29 sites – or “every location that was suggested from any source” – were evaluated.
Waterloo was left out of the recommendations because of its relatively low volume of opioid-related calls, which officials say would make it unlikely the federal or provincial governments would agree to provide funding.
Supervised injection sites offer drug users clean needles and a sterile environment in which to take drugs, as well as a process to safely dispose of needles and access to social services.
Areas around supervised injection sites in other jurisdictions have reported improved health outcomes, as well as less needle litter in the surrounding neighbourhood.
A survey of local drug users conducted earlier this year revealed that most users said they would make use of supervised injection sites if they were available.
The sites would be operated by Region of Waterloo Public Health and Sanguen Health Centre, with assistance from other local public health and social service organizations.
The choice of site in Cambridge will likely not be without controversy, as Mayor Doug Craig and city councillors had asked the region to exclude the Galt, Preston and Hespeler cores from consideration, with Craig saying that putting a site in a busy commercial area would “only traumatize people more.”
Central Kitchener and the Galt core are the most common locations for opioid-related emergencies in Waterloo Region, although overdose deaths tend to happen more often in suburban areas.
Regional councillors will vote June 19 on whether to move ahead with studying the four proposed locations in greater detail. A decision would then be made at a later date on which sites to select.
Through the first four months of 2018, there were 156 reported drug overdoses in Waterloo Region. Seven overdose deaths were reported in Cambridge, five in Kitchener and one in Waterloo.
Seventy-one people in the region died of opioid-related overdoses in 2017. It is estimated that about 4,000 people in Waterloo Region inject themselves with illegal drugs, with nearly half of those people doing so on a daily basis.
