SafePoint pause 'erodes' trust with drug users, expert fears

Safepoint on Wyandotte Street East in Windsor, Ont., on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024. (Travis Fortnum/CTV News Windsor)

When Windsor’s first supervised consumption site opened last spring, the team behind it repeatedly stated it would take a while to build the full trust of people who use drugs.

That work was well underway when SafePoint was forced to lock its doors at the end of December – a month which saw 215 client visits.

Up significantly from the 65 seen in May, the first full month it was open.

Harm reduction outreach co-ordinator Lacie Krzemien says the increased usage shows a building of trust within the community – and that the stoppage at the site has brought all that work to a screeching halt.

She called that disheartening.

“The pause in operations has been very difficult for myself personally, because it's eroded that trust,” she said.

“I spent months from an advocacy standpoint, years, promoting a safe consumption site for it only to be open and then to pause operations.”

SafePoint opened on April 26, 2023 after receiving federal approval, but it was still waiting for Ontario’s government to review its application for funding.

When a shooting near a Toronto consumption and treatment site prompted the province to pause reviewing such applications, Windsor and WECHU were forced to pause SafePoint.

The health unit confirmed to CTV News Friday it had not received an update on the status of the review process.

Krzemien, who works with Pozitive Pathways in the downtown core, said SafePoint was a game changer while it was open.

“I had an experience where a friend of mine actually overdosed out behind our organization, and I was able to walk that person right to SafePoint,” she said.

“Then they started using it as a resource and so they didn't have that high risk of a fatal overdose.”

WECHUs data shows SafePoint treated five overdoses on site in the months it was in operation – all within the last eight weeks before the pause.

Krzemien said the site is an important step for people looking to break their substance dependency.

“Getting them to SafePoint was the first step in our recovery process for a lot of them,” she said.

“I can't get people into treatment, there's waitlist. There's not always a bed available at withdrawal management. But I could keep people alive while they were using at SafePoint.”

She said while the site’s in limbo, outreach workers like herself have had to go “back to the basics” when helping people who use drugs -- advise them not to use alone and to get their drugs tested.

For everyone else, she advises looking into naloxone training.

Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles was in Windsor Thursday, swinging by SafePoint while in town.

She said the Ford government needs to “step up” and support such sites.

“What are they waiting for,” she said.

“People’s lives are actually at risk. We know these programs do save lives and we need to be investing in more programs like this.”

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health told CTV News the review of consumption sites remains across Ontario is still ongoing and is being led by a third party.

There is no indication of when it will conclude – nor when SafePoint’s application will be considered.