‘The area doesn’t feel the same’: open drug use, overdoses prompt concerns in Somerset

An area dad says the Ford government’s move to protect children by closing a supervised consumption site has had the opposite effect. CTV’s Austin Lee reports.

People living near the Somerset Community Health Centre say social disorder, open drug use and overdoses are on the rise in the area since the closure of the supervised consumption site in March.

The site was forced to close in March following a move by the provincial government aimed at protecting children that shutdown supervised consumption sites within 200 metres of schools and licensed child-care centres.

Recent data provided to CTV News Ottawa by Ottawa paramedics highlights an increase in overdose calls to the area and some residents say they no longer feel safe walking around the community with their children.

“It is hard when you feel like you cannot just transit safely. The area doesn’t feel the same. You have to pay attention to where you’re going or change sidewalks just to go to daycare,” said Javier Salazar, who lives nearby with his family and who’s child attends a daycare in the area.

That daycare is why the drug consumption site was forced to shut its doors, but Salazar says the result of the move is having the opposite effect of what was intended, pointing to a nearby safe supply clinic.

“It doesn’t make sense to me. How can they make that kind of decision and then allow clinics that are within the same range to supply those same substances? I don’t understand how they make these decisions,” he said.

“It wasn’t like this. I have really seen changes in the last year.”

Salazar is one of many in the community expressing concerns since the drug consumption site closed.

Derrick St. John, director for supportive housing and substance use health at the Somerset West Community Health Centre, says the outreach team at the health centre are being flooded with calls from people living nearby.

“To give you an example, in June we had 23 calls from the community needing some assistance, and in September, we had over 110 calls,” he said.

“That could be anything from cleaning up garbage, improperly discarded paraphernalia, or assistance with folks suffering from substance use challenges including overdoses.”

When the province moved to shut down the supervised consumption site, the Ministry of Health set aside $529 million to create a total of 27 HART Hubs across Ontario.

However, outreach teams can not tap into any of that funding, leaving that branch of the Somerset West Community Health Centre to get by on a patchwork of short-term cash injections through both federal and provincial programs overseen by the City of Ottawa.

St. John says the nature of the funding model that keeps outreach teams afloat makes it difficult to make long-term plans, and he’s calling for additional support from all levels of government.

“The funding needs to be base funding, where we’re not cobbling funding together for these outreach services that are so critical,” he said.

“In the month of September alone, our outreach team dealt with 16 overdoses in the community.”

For some living in the area and witnessing the changes that have come about since the closure of the supervised consumption site, they’re hoping for more balanced measures that approach addiction issues on a case-by-case basis depending on the community’s needs.

“People should work together and look at these issues from a broad perspective, making sure it’s not just about the people in the community, but about everyone. Making sure the people with problems are well,” Salazar said.

“How can we make sure they have the help that they need while not worsening the situation for the community that still exists, for the people and the businesses that are still present in the area?”

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