渥太華要新開毒品吸入點 允許公開吸毒 拯救生命

渥太華要新開毒品吸入點！宣稱允許室外公開吸毒是“拯救生命”？

2024年3月18日 來源: Natasha

【OTTAWAZINE資訊】前段時間，溫哥華要在華人聚集區開毒品注射站的事情鬧得沸沸揚揚（點擊查看相關報道），但其實早在 2017 年，渥太華就已經在緊鄰渥大的 Sandy Hill 社區開設了一個毒品注射點。

開設毒品注射點的初衷旨在為癮君子們提供一個所謂的“合法空間”，讓他們在安全、受監管的環境下注射毒品，同時這裏還提供緊急治療服務，以防止用藥過量所造成的危害或死亡。

然而，就在上周五，渥太華位於 Sandy Hill 和 Somerset West 的兩個毒品注射點突然發生了意外，加熱毒品而散發出有害煙霧導致工作人員出現了“惡心、頭暈和頭痛”的症狀。目前，這兩個注射點都停止了服務，等待安省的進一步調查。

注射點內部 圖片來源：Submitted by Rob Boyd

毒品主要分為注射和吸入兩種吸食方式，據 Sandy Hill 健康中心主任 Wendy Stewart 表示，當時客戶正在使用某些設施加熱並準備吸入藥物，但這是不允許的，因為毒品注射點隻提供注射服務。

但渥太華公共衛生部門去年的一份報告發現，因吸入阿片類藥物過量而導致的意外死亡率從四年前的 16% 增加了一倍多，到 2022 年已經飆升至 39%。僅 2023 年前六個月，渥太華就有 93 人因阿片類藥物過量服用而死亡。

這說明用吸入的方式攝取毒品的人越來越多，因此 Stewart 認為，人們現在更需要能夠安全吸入毒品的空間，否則，他們就會在不受監管的情況下吸食，增加藥物過量的風險。

Sandy Hill 注射點 圖片來源：Guy Quenneville/CBC

“現在，25% 的藥物過量發生在我們的監管場所之外，其中大多數都與吸入式毒品有關。”

Somerset West 社區健康中心的執行董事 Suzanne Obiorah 在一封電子郵件中表示，該中心已向加拿大衛生部申請許可，允許客戶在工作人員的監督下在其室外庭院吸食、吞咽和注射毒品。 

“隨著我們越來越多地了解社區吸毒情況，我們也意識到人們需要更安全的吸入服務的重要性。”

Somerset West 社區健康中心 圖片來源：Sam Konnert/CBC

渥太華過量預防組織（OPO）的成員 Leah Podobnik 表示，擁有更安全的吸入場所將有助於集中資源並阻止人們私下過量服用藥物。

“我們需要建立一個空間，讓人們可以安全地吸入，這樣就不會出現隨處可見的吸毒過量情況。”

Podobnik 補充說，這也將有助於防止注射點的工作人員分心，“跑到外麵去處理那些因為藥物過量而倒在雪堆裏的人”。 

2017 年，OPO 曾運營過自己的受監管注射點，其中就包括一個允許吸入毒品的帳篷，但在 Sandy Hill 注射點開放後，迫於政府壓力而不得不關閉了。

圖片來源：Overdose Prevention Ottawa

Podobnik 說，OPO 注射點“由看到其重要性的活動人士運營”，並補充說，監管吸入式毒品曆來被排除在該省應對藥物過量危機的措施之外。

他的觀點得到了 Stewart 的支持。2022 年，多倫多的 Casey House 成為安大略省第一家提供室內監督吸入的醫院——Stewart 認為渥太華必須提供同樣的服務。

“毒品政策和立法往往落後於當前的需求，”她說，“這是拯救生命和實際采取適當幹預措施的下一步。”

Calls for inhalation spaces grow after 2 supervised injection sites close

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-supervised-consumption-injection-inhalation-site-close-1.7132166?

People prepare inhalable drugs inside and smoke outside, says director

Sam Konnert · CBC News ·Mar 05, 2024

 

The Somerset West Community Health Centre is one of two locations that have halted their supervised injection services after staff reported feeling unwell. Both centres have said harmful fumes from drugs being heated up were factors in the closure. (Sam Konnert/CBC)

The temporary closure of two supervised injection sites in Ottawa highlights the need for space where people can more safely inhale illicit drugs, the director of one of the sites says.

On Friday, both the Sandy Hill and Somerset West community health centres halted service at their supervised sites until further notice pending investigation by the province.

Staff at both sites said harmful fumes had been emitted when drugs were heated for inhalation.

All other harm reduction services at both sites remain open. 

• 2 harm reduction hubs halt their supervised injection services

The director of the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre's program which includes supervised injection said clients are using the facility to prepare drugs for inhalation, which is not allowed. Users then go outside to inhale them.

"Our overdoses used to occur just inside our safe injection site," said Wendy Stewart.

"Now, 25 per cent of our overdoses are occurring outside our [site] and most of them, if not all, are related to inhalation."

The supervised injection site inside the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre also paused operations last week pending an investigation by Ontario's Ministry of Health. (Guy Quenneville/CBC)

Having supervised inhalation sites in Ottawa would both protect workers and save lives, she said.

An Ottawa Public Health report last year found the rate of accidental opioid overdose deaths caused by inhalation more than doubled to 39 per cent in 2022 from 16 per cent four years earlier.

Its data shows 93 people died from a confirmed opioid overdose in the first six months of 2023, the most recent data available.

• Inhaling drugs surpasses injections in Ottawa, and experts want new tools to fight it

The Somerset West centre's executive director Suzanne Obiorah said in an email it has applied to Health Canada for permission to allow clients to snort, swallow and inject drugs under staff supervision in its outdoor courtyard. 

The exemption would not allow inhalation, but "as we learn more and more about drug usage in the community, we are also learning about the need for safer inhalation services," Obiorah said. 

Workers splitting efforts to keep users safe

A member of the grassroots group Overdose Prevention Ottawa (OPO) said having safer inhalation sites would help concentrate resources and stop people from overdosing in private.

CBC spoke with Leah Podobnik last month when the Sandy Hill centre began detecting an animal tranquilizer in drug samples.

"We need to set up spaces where people can go and inhale their substances so we don't have three people overdosing outside and two people overdosing inside," she said.

That would also help prevent harm reduction workers splitting their efforts and "running outside and dealing with people overdosing in snowbanks," Podobnik added. 

OPO operated its own supervised injection site, which included an inhalation tent, in a Lowertown park for several months in 2017. It closed following pressure from local political leaders and the opening of the Sandy Hill site.

Overdose Prevention Ottawa operated its own supervised injection site in a Lowertown park for several months in 2017. The site included an inhalation tent. (Overdose Prevention Ottawa)

The OPO site was "run by activists who saw the importance of it," Podobnik said, adding that inhalation sites have traditionally been excluded from the province's response to the overdose crisis.

In 2022, Toronto's Casey House became the first in Ontario to offer indoor supervised inhalation.

Stewart thinks it's essential Ottawa be able to offer the same.

"Often drug policy and legislation tends to lag behind the current need," she said. "This is the next step in terms of saving lives and actually having appropriate interventions in place."

Sam Konnert Reporter is a reporter with CBC News in Ottawa. He can be reached at [e-mail] or @SamKonnert.