Saskatoon Tribal Council calls for study into safe injections site

Saskatoon's Tribal Council is calling for a feasibility study to see if the city of Saskatoon could benefit from a safe injection site for IV drug users.

• Saskatoon clinic 'struggling' with explosion of HIV
• Sask. needle exchange sites expanding services

"All we're saying is let's look at the idea of a safe injection site that's been talked about in different cities, and we're not immune from major city problems so if we want to have a good quality of life for our members we need to provide a wide range of services," said Saskatoon Tribal Council (STC) Chief Felix Thomas.

Right now the STC operates a needle exchange out of a 20th Street STC health clinic. But after federal funding was cut in 2009, the STC has been forced to fund the program to the tune of $280,000 per year just for supplies, Chief Thomas said.

This year, Thomas said he expects to see at least 50,000 clients coming through the needle exchange program.

Saskatoon physician Ryan Mieli told CBC that Saskatoon could potentially benefit from a safe injection site similar to what the City of Vancouver has. However, just because it works in one city, doesn't mean the same program can be transplanted to Saskatoon and also have the exact same outcomes.

"Saskatoon has really high rates of IV drug use and the highest rates of HIV incidents in the country, so we really need to be thinking about what we can do as a city or province to reduce the amount of overdose, the amount of transmission of HIV and Hepatitis C throughout IV drug use," Mieli said.

"If we're going to explore this, it's worth thinking of, worth thinking of the harm reduction tools out there."

AIDS Saskatoon offers another needle exchange in Saskatoon. Support Services coordinator Jason Mercredi applauded the STC for leading the charge on a feasibility study. He said a safe injection site could likely save money and save lives, but getting over the political and moral hump is going to be a greater challenge.

"Back in the day, I remember when we were getting our needle exchange, it was very hairy," Mercredi said. "But since we got our needle exchange the crime [statistics] actually reduced and we had police tell us that crime statistics dropped in the neighbourhood since."

Province not looking at safe injection sites

In a statement, Health Minister Dustin Duncan told CBC News the provincial government isn't looking at safe injection sites, rather focusing its effort to reduce mental health and addiction services wait times.

"Our government is providing $300 million in 2015-16 for mental health and addictions services," Duncan said. "Though we are not currently considering safe injection sites, we do continue to support prevention and risk reduction programs throughout the province, which not only aim to protect residents from communicable disease, but connect people who inject drugs with health care professionals and addiction service supports."

In 2014, 112 HIV cases were reported in Saskatchewan. The government reported a steady increase in the annual number of HIV diagnoses from 79 cases in 2005 to a peak of 199 cases in 2009.  

The number of cases remained somewhat constant over the next three years, but dropped notably to 129 cases in 2013 and continued to decrease in 2014 to 112 cases.