Cambridge residents debate supervised injection sites

Residents of Cambridge, Ont., have been discussing the possibility of a supervised injection site in their community, and on Wednesday evening For A Better Cambridge held a public forum where a guest panel answered people's questions about substance use and supervised injection sites.

The forum comes after months of talk about discarded used syringes around the city, starting late this summer when a young boy was pricked by a needle in a park.

The city has since formed an opioid task force and taken over the needle cleanups that was being conducted by a group of citizens. 

Do people support the idea of having a supervised injection site in Cambridge? It all depends on who you ask.

'Send them to prison'

Mike Wright, who was born and raised in Galt, told CBC News a supervised injection site is the "stupidest thing" he's ever heard.

Wright expressed frustration in seeing more drug use in the city over time, blaming The Bridges shelter. 

He told CBC News he thinks that having a supervised injection site allows and even encourages illegal activity and feels law enforcement should "send [users] to prison."

"Addiction is no excuse to break the law, it makes no sense to me," he told CBC News. "People call me inconsiderate, and other words, but to me it makes no sense."

'Not incarceration, but mandatory hospitalization'

On the other side, Carl Garbig — who moved to Cambridge about a year and a half ago — told CBC News he supports supervised injection sites. According to Garbig, the main problem is that now, needles are given out with "minimal controls."

"I think there's a lot of people that have serious difficulties with addiction that need help," Garbig said.

"I think it's irresponsible to hand them out to people that are ill and expecting them to be returned. And when they're not, the additional burden for recovery falls on the city."

He would also entertain the idea of "not incarceration, but mandatory hospitalization" to speed up the process of rehabilitation for people with addictions.

'Complex, societal issue'

There's still a lot of work to be done before a supervised injection site gets the green light,said Karen Quigley-Hobbs, director of infectious diseases with Region of Waterloo Public Health.

Feasibility studies, analysis of community input and a community impacts assessment still needs to be done. 

"The opioid crisis is a really complex societal issue. It's not something that one change is going to make the impact on its own," she said on The Morning Edition with Craig Norris on Thursday. "It requires a comprehensive, compassionate response."

And, she said, an important question that still needs to be answered is if people would actually use a supervised injection site.

Quigley-Hobbs said people should expect a report to regional council containing a data analysis from the first consultation phase in early 2018 with more community consultations in the future.

'Not unique to Cambridge'

Garbig will be one of the people at those future consultations.

"I've read that some communities utilize mobile injection sites, which might be a good idea," he said. 

Not only is he in favour of a supervised injection site in his community, he wouldn't mind seeing safe-consumption site where all types of drug-use, not just intravenous, can be supervised and monitored for dosage.

While Garbig expressed that when he first moved to Cambridge he didn't realize the prevalence of drug use, he doesn't regret living in a community where that problem exists.

"I don't think the situation is unique to Cambridge and it's a wonderful community, so I don't regret moving here."