Strong reaction on Monday to news of four-deaths over the weekend — all suspected-overdoses — within 24-hours.
As previously reported, police officers assisted paramedics on several overdose-related calls from Friday night to early Sunday morning. Windsor Police Services initially confirmed five suspected overdose-deaths that are being investigated as "sudden deaths," but learned one person had in fact survived after receiving medical attention.
Police are treating the cases as sudden death investigations.
Chair of the Board at the Windsor Essex County Health Unit, Gary McNamara says there needs to be more discussion about safe injection sites.
"It's also to make sure that things are done properly, safely but also to offer some counselling and other opportunities to try to get these individuals off of this really tragic road."
Speaking on AM800's The Lynn Martin Show, McNamara says it's not just about giving people a place to do drugs, he says there is an educational component that is critically important.
"This is not all drug trafficking out of Mexico and those bad drugs that are coming in," he says "It's the over prescription of opioids and a lot of this is happening in your neighbourhood, it's not just a downtown and back alley type issue," adds McNamara
He says the proof is in the pudding.
"Bring this to the forefront so all agencies all end up on the same page. It's about creating an ability to be able to safeguard some of these folks. Can we save them all? Probably not, but we're certainly not doing a great job today."
The health unit is asking anyone over the age of 16 to go online and fill out a survey about whether or not there is a need in this area for a safe injection site.
— with files from AM800's Lynn Martin