Thunder Bay to study whether safe injection site is needed

Thunder Bay's drug strategy will try a feasibility study to see if a safe injection site is needed as part of the city's drug strategy.

Coun. Rebecca Johnson attended the Wednesday announcement and said the safe injection site will be compared to Shelter House's managed alcohol program, which has been welcome with mixed reviews by residents.

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"Some people will say it's a good thing, some will say what are we doing and I respect that," Johnson said."I'm very open to hearing from their comments about this."

The plan is in partnership with the Ontario HIV Treatment Network and the councillor said it should reduce the amount of needles residents see on the streets by providing drug users with a safe spot to deal with their addictions.

Cynthia Olsen, the city's drug strategy co-ordinator, told CBC News that two safe injection sites in Vancouver reveal the valuable role these programs play in the overall health of a community.

"What we really hope to find out is the voice of our community, and the voice of folks who use substances intravenously, of what that might look like," she said.

Olsen added the study will begin in March in order to determine if drug users would use the site. It will then survey those who use drugs intravenously, how often they get high and where they are doing it.

Once the results are in, the city can determine if a safe injection site would be beneficial to the health and safety oflocal citizens.