"It’s clear in this toxic drug crisis that people who use drugs are vulnerable and that harm reduction is love," writes the author. (Photo courtesy of George Bozanich)

Topics: Ethical Living | Church News, Opinion

Ontario’s decision to shutter supervised consumption sites is a death sentence

Harm reduction and supporting those affected by the toxic drug crisis is a part of our vocation, writes Rev. George Bozanich

By George Bozanich

| August 26, 2024

In the 12 years since I helped found the Windsor Youth Centre, a United Church-run drop-in centre in southern Ontario for homeless and at-risk youth, we’ve grieved, buried and lost many young people. To toxic drugs, yes, but also to the violence, both economic and physical, that surrounds trauma and addiction. I am trying to find a way to remember them and the answer comes as I watch youth centre staff love and support the young people there today. We can honour the dead by advocating for the living.

One way to do that is to support supervised consumption sites. Windsor’s closed on Jan. 1 after operating for just eight months. The money from our local health unit ran out while we waited for provincial funding, which never arrived. Windsor’s completed application for a site was submitted 22 months ago.

It felt like getting kicked when we were already down. This toxic drug crisis claimed at least 126 lives in Windsor in 2023; 22 overdoses were reported in a single week at the beginning of July. This crisis has touched so many corners of our communities. It’s a grim reminder of our interconnectedness.

This week’s announcement was another blow: the Ministry of Health said all applications for supervised consumption sites have been denied. The province’s idea for a replacement – HART (Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment) hubs – is a step backwards. The hubs won’t even be distributing clean needles or syringes.

Other communities in Ontario are in similar situations to Windsor’s. Timmins’ application was submitted 16 months ago, Barrie’s 31 months ago and Sudbury’s 33 months ago. Each of these communities has another thing in common — more than double the provincial average of opioid-related deaths.

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In May, faith leaders from each of these communities gathered to write an open letter to the provincial government calling on them to approve and fund these supervised consumption sites. We found much in common as clergy during this crisis. We share a grief in our communities that is suppressed by the shame and stigma associated with addiction and drug-related deaths. Through our experiences, we came to know this as a public health emergency and demanded that the provincial government act like it. Supervised consumption sites are health care. To date, 130 faith leaders from across Ontario have signed the letter.

As the church, I know we are at our best when we are loving and supporting the most vulnerable among us. It’s clear in this toxic drug crisis that people who use drugs are vulnerable and that harm reduction is love. That means providing people who use drugs with a supervised place to use and receive emergency care in case of overdose. Advocating for access to nurses and social workers, to foot and wound care, is part of our Christian vocation. People who use drugs are beloved by God.

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Those who oppose supervised consumption sites may say that recovery is the answer and that harm reduction only enables addiction. Some would even mandate forced addiction treatment. Treatment should of course be available (wait times for treatment in Ontario are long) but without supervised consumption sites, people die and the dead cannot recover.

When I read last month that federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre referred to supervised consumption sites as “drug dens,” I was disappointed. Language like that punches down at the victims of the toxic drug crisis, only increasing the stigma and shame.

I know the deck is being stacked against harm reduction in general and supervised consumption sites in particular, but I am not discouraged. Nearly every advocate for safe consumption sites I have met is grieving someone lost to the toxic drug crisis and motivated by deep love for that person. It is a love I am witness to each time I step into the Windsor Youth Centre.

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Rev. George Bozanich is the minister at Emmanuel United in Windsor, Ont., and one of the founders of the Windsor Youth Centre, a program of the United Church’s Downtown Mission.

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