Londoners ready for safe injection services for drug users: mayor

Londoners will have a say this fall about the future of supervised injection services in the city.

London Mayor Matt Brown said Monday a safe place for those using injection drugs is one part of the solution to the city's alarming injection drug use problem.

• London declares 'health emergency' over HIV, Hep C rates
• London hands out 2.5 million needles every year

"It will be controversial, but we need to open our minds to that possibility. I see it as part of a solution," Brown said.

"I think Londoners are ready. We can recognize that people faced with no other option don't want to be doing drugs on the street and in parks."

A supervised injection site gives people access to services and allows them to use drugs out of the public eye, Brown added.

London's drug use among highest in Canada

The statistics about drug use in London are startling.

Last year, the Middlesex London Health Unit declared a public health emergency over the rise of HIV and Hepatitis C in the city.

In London:

• HIV injections in London have nearly doubled in the past decade.
• Hepatitis C rates have also spiked, increasing almost 60 percent in the last decade.
• More than 2.5 million needles are handed out to drug users each year.
• The city is second only to Vancouver when it comes to publicly funded needle use.
• There are 6,000 people who use the local needle exchange.
• Opioid injection rates are higher than the national average.

Chris Mackie, London's medical officer of health, said harm reduction in the form of safe injection services is just one part of dealing with London's drug epidemic.

"Supervised injection is a step safer than injecting drugs in a back alley," Mackie said. "But it certainly doesn'tsolve a drug epidemic. It can save lives, but it's only one part of what needs to be done."

• Read the full London study about drug use here

Enforcement of laws, treatment and prevention have to go hand-in-hand with harm reduction, he said.

Supervised injection facilities should be integrated into already existing services, said Brian Lester, the executive director of Regional HIV/AIDS Connection.

"We have people who are injecting on the street, we have people who are dying. The sooner we can move forward the better," he said.

Site must need drug user and community needs

The public consultations in the fall will determine how many supervised injection services the city might open, and where they would go.

"We need to ensure good access to these services for people who need them, and that the services are located in places where the community feels their concerns are being met," said Scott Courtice, the executive director of the London Intercommunity Health Centre.

Anxiety from businesses and property owners around possible supervised injection sites is common, Courtice said.

"It's something that has been present in any community that has implemented these sites. What's been found is that public injection declines and there's a decline in discarded needs," he said.

Crime around safe injection sites doesn't go up or down, he added.

Study found public injection high in London

A survey of about 200 people who inject drugs in London found that 75 percent injected in a public place in the past six months. The survey was a feasibility study into opening supervised injection services in London.

Supervised injection sites also reduce communicable disease rates and reduce pressure on the health care system, Mackie said.

About 86 percent of the injection drug users surveyed said they'd be willing to use a supervised injection service if one was available.

"Our clients are looking for the safety of being able to inject in a place where they're not going to be beat up or arrested. Also, if you have questions about how to make changes in your life, having someone who is not going to be judgemental, who is going to meet you where you're at, that's important," Courtice said.

"A lot of people who are injecting drugs have had a tremendous trauma in their lives. They're isolated from society and their medicine has been criminalized and what they really need is hope."