Supervised injection site approved for Sandy Hill

The Sandy Hill Community Heath Centre in Ottawa, Dec. 2016

The federal government has approved Ottawa's first supervised injection site.

The Sandy Hill Community Health Centre had been seeking permission to open and run such a site.

Health Canada officially approved their application Wednesday.

In a statement, federal Health Minister Jane Philpott said, “I am pleased to see the approval of a supervised consumption site in Ottawa, which will provide further support and tools to help address the overdose crisis. We are committed to working with all partners across the country to combat this crisis, and supervised consumption sites are an important part of our comprehensive response.”

Health Canada has approved 15 supervised drug consumption sites to date in Canada.