Talk of supervised injection site dominates regional council meeting

Heated discussions over how to address Ontario's opioidcrisis, dominated the Waterloo regional council meeting for four hours on Tuesday.

Many community groups and health providers presented to GeoffLorentz, the chair of the region's Community Services Committee and ahot topic of discussion was the installation of a supervised injection site.

Bruce Lauckner, CEO of theWaterloo Wellington Local Health Integration Network (LHIN), said a safe needle-exchange site is one of the many solutions that "have been demonstrated to have positive effects on public health."

He said a heated point of discussion is where to put the safe-needle exchange.

"It's important to locate these sites as close as possible to individuals in needand sometimes that conflicts of other uses in the area," said Lauckner.

Laucknersaid the meeting was an "important health dialogue" and opportunity to educate the public about the solutions they are putting forward.

"No one sector or organization can tackle this alone. I think council saw that today," he said.

Lauckneralso presented a range of solutions thatLHIN'spartners are doing inthe area, some of which includeproviding education and support for frontline and emergency workers.

Another solution is to install a few 'rapid addictions clinics' in Cambridge andWaterloo region, where people can walk-in toget help without an appointment.

Laucknersaid LHINinstalled one in Guelph and it hasbeen "highly successful."

"Ittakes great courage to tackle an addiction, and having an accessible organization who is willing to help you, is really important," he said.

Lauckner said they will be opening two additional new clinics in the new year, which will operate twice a week.