'Unsanctioned' overdose prevention site may pop up in Windsor

Brandon Bailey refers to himself as a "recovering addict." He's been sober for almost four years and want to see others who still struggle with addiction follow suit.

He's part of a new group called the Overdose Prevention Society of Windsor — an extension of similar groups based in major cities like Toronto and Vancouver.

For Bailey, the lack of harm reduction programs in the city — along with the province's move to pause approvals of new overdose prevention sites — has forced him to give the city an ultimatum.

"I know, in Toronto, they're doing an unsanctioned site. We're at the point where we're ready to do the same," he said, adding the group doesn't want to "have to do that, but [they're] willing to."

On Friday, the group held a "peaceful protest" during the Downtown Mission's International Overdose Awareness Day event, in an effort to "bring awareness of all of the overdoses happening in our community, and to all of the deaths that are occurring because of it," according to the group's Facebook page.

Plans for an 'unsanctioned' site

Going "unsanctioned" isn't Bailey's preference. He said he'd love to work with city councillors and local police to open an overdose prevention site in Windsor "without a fight."

The group's tentative plan is to use either a space provided by a charitable donor or house the OPS in a tent.

"Without us having funding and everything done by donation, we have to go with what we have."

According to Bailey, following Toronto's example of hosting an "unsanctioned" overdose prevention site could "save some lives" in Windsor.

"We don't have a harm reduction program in Windsor, so because they're not abstinent, they're told to come back when they're ready. A lot of the time, people are dying before they're ready."

'No deaths in overdose prevention sites,' says Toronto OPS

The Toronto Overdose Prevention Society opened up a pop-up injection site in Toronto's Moss Park in August 2017. The organization decided not to wait for permission from police or city officials, citing a spike in overdoses at the time.

Toronto police spoke with organizers as the tent went up, ultimately deciding to allow it to operate. The group has since received an exemption to operate legally.

The group since moved forward with the opening of another unsanctioned site on August 20 — this time in Toronto's Parkdale neighbourhood, just weeks after the province's decision to "pause" funding for future sites.

Sarah Ovens, of the Toronto group, said all that's needed to open an unsanctioned injection site is "a table, some chairs, some oxygen, some naloxone and some people that are trained to use it."

The emergence of an unsanctioned injection site would illicit a "mixed" response from residents in Windsor, according to Ovens, who added people are at "different phases of understanding" of the need for these types of sites.

"No one has died in an overdose prevention site anywhere in the world ... The evidence has been in for many, many years that these sites work very well to save lives."