Regional council approves supervised consumption site in Kitchener

Regional council hasgiven itsstamp of approval for a supervised consumption site at150 Duke St. W. in Kitchener.

The region's community services committee voted in favour of the site on April 9. The motion required the city of Kitchener to also approve the site.

After some debate about where to put a supervised consumption site, Kitchener council endorsed the location at a specialmeeting on Monday.

Regional council supportedthe decision during ameeting Wednesday, with a unanimous vote from all councillors present.

Next: Province and Ottawa

The decision paves the way for regional staff to apply to the province for one of the 21 sites the government will permit. There are currently 16 approved sites in Ontario.

Staff will alsosubmit an application to Health Canada for a federal exemption to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

The Duke Street location will take approximately nine months before it's operational.

In the meantime, Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic has asked regional staff to see if there's a way to open a temporary location within two months.

A report on a temporary site is due to come back to the region's community services committee at its meeting on April 30.

Visit to Calgary site

At a police services board meeting on Wednesday, Chief Bryan Larkin saida team from the Waterloo Region Police Service (WRPS) will be travelling to Calgary to meet with local officials and visit a supervised consumption site in that city.

"We had been looking at ... the challenges that Calgary and Calgary police service has been facing around their consumption treatment site, where we've seen a bit of a trend in increased crime, increased neighbourhood complaints," Larkin said.

The goal will beto learn best practices for neighbourhood enforcement, he explained.

Waterloo Regional Police say there were274 suspected overdoses between January and March, and 27 people have died from a drug overdose since the start of the year.

Larkinemphasized the importance of balancing "public safety with the ability tackle a very challenging, complex issue."