The debate over safe consumption sites continues after a community alert was issued Tuesday following a high number of opioid-related emergency department visits in Windsor-Essex.
This was the second alert issued in Windsor-Essex in less than a month.
Back on Jan. 1, SafePoint services at 101 Wyandotte East were paused, as they await results of the provincial critical incident review and ultimately approval of funding to operate the site.
Speaking on AM800's The Dan MacDonald Show, Andrew Dowie, MPP for Windsor–Tecumseh says he wants to point out that the review has been conducted by experts.
However he says he does not know when the results will be released.
"It's important that recommendations when they're delivered, that they be properly considered. Phone calls be made about how we implement or not. Perhaps the recommendations are not taken, who knows, it's very soon to judge what that would be. By all means we do not want a half-assed review, I'm sorry for the language. We need something comprehensive that will actually save lives."
Dowie says community alerts are for those experiencing overdoses.
"The SafePoint service is not to stop an overdose. It is to give information and give the person the tools to make decisions on their own, and ultimately it is not going to affect the opioid overdoses that happen because that's not what it's there for."
Ward 9 councillor Kieran McKenzie disagrees with Dowie saying there are people who, because they have accessed SafePoint services, are less at risk of being imperilled.
"That is what the sites are there to do, are there to help people who are suffering from addiction have very serious problems with respect to mental health and or addiction, and to consume in a safe environment where they are not at risk to perish because of this affliction that they are dealing with."
McKenzie is questioning why there hasn't been an interim report released.
"People are dying. As we speak, they're dying. Not all of those issues would be remediated by re-opening the CTS in our community, but certainly there would be an added layer of safety that would be there, that currently isn't there because the failure in my opinion, of the provincial government."
In an emailed statement to AM800 News, Health Minister Sylvia Jones‘ office advised the reviews remain ongoing.
"The Ministry is continuing to review how the sites can strengthen their accountability and oversight," said Jones’ spokesperson Hannah Jensen. "We will have more to share about this in the coming weeks."
