Advocates in Thunder Bay say the Ontario government’s move to close a number of safe consumption sites (SCS) will be detrimental to people living with addictions.

Health Minister Sylvia Jones announced Tuesday the province is banning the sites within 200 metres of schools and child-care centres, meaning 10 locations in the province, including Path 525 in Thunder Bay, must shut down by March 31, 2025.

Path 525, which is operated by NorWest Community Health Centres (NWCHC), is on the city’s south side, around the corner from Ogden Community Public School.

Opened in 2018, the service’s clients can bring in drugs from the street to use in the presence of a registered nurse, who can help them if they overdose.

    • OutlierBlue@lemmy.caEnglish
      9·
      3 months ago

      Do you honestly think a random drug addict on the street makes sure he’s a certain distance from schools before shooting up? I can tell you there’s a school near me where the custodian has to walk the school yard every single morning picking up needles because the addicts sit on the portable steps to inject themselves.

      If they had a nearby safe consumption site, even if it was literally across the street, those needles would get disposed of safely instead of being left in the school yard.

      SCS aren’t about solving all our drug problems. They’re about making things better for everyone affected.

    • jerkface@lemmy.caEnglish
      8·
      3 months ago

      But you’re okay with selling and openly consuming alcohol and tobacco within that same radius? In establishments that encourage children to come in?

      It’s such a ridiculous objection. Safe injection sites MAKE DANGEROUS NEIGHBOURHOODS SAFER. It’s not like it’s inspired by any actual incidents that have happened. It’s just appealing to people’s uninformed, baseless fears.

    • joshhsoj1902@lemmy.ca
      6·
      3 months ago

      What part of this change changes that? These locations are setup so that they are close to the people who need them, shutting down the locations doesn’t stop the usage, it just pushes it to happen in less safe spaces

      • systemglitch@lemmy.world
        15·
        3 months ago

        They go where the sites are set up. Every time. I watch it in my city each time it is moved.

        No need to be near a school.

        • jerkface@lemmy.caEnglish
          4·
          3 months ago

          Oh, you WATCH it. I’m sure you know better, then. Best not expose yourself to more rigorous evidence that might change your mind, because I think you like your mind where it is and would try to keep it there.

    • setVeryLoud(true);@lemmy.ca
      52·
      3 months ago

      Junkies will either shoot up at a safe drug consumption site next to a school, or they will do so alone, leaning against the schoolyard fence, and discarding their HBV infected needles all over the school yard, grassy areas and parking lots.

      Denying them help does not make them go away magically. And I speak from experience, when I was a kid in school, junkies would hide behind our school to shoot up at night to not get caught, and it was up to the school administration to pick up the sharps and other paraphernalia.

      I’d much rather they be given clean needles, a safe injection site, supervision, a sharps container and help to beat their addiction. Making them suffer just because you don’t like them makes them become a problem for everyone.