| Site Needle and Syringe Program |
The City of Ottawa's Site Needle and Syringe Program is an effective mandatory health program, which has been in operation since 1991. The availability of these programs have been deemed a necessary public health measure to prevent the spread of communicable diseases, primarily HIV and Hepatitis-C virus, and to minimize the risks associated with substance use in society.
Program information and background
Mandate of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care
Background
In the late 1980's, the rate of HIV and Hepatitis B and C infection grew to epidemic proportions among injection drug users. The Ministry of Health acknowledged the urgent need to implement harm reduction strategies to control the epidemic. The human costs, as well as the financial burden HIV infection was placing on the health-care system, were a major concern.
The Ontario Ministry of Health, under the Health Protection and Promotion Act mandated that:
"The board of health shall ensure that injection drug users can have access to sterile injection equipment by the provision of needle and syringe exchange programs as a strategy to prevent transmission of[ HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and other blood-borne infections and other associated diseases in areas where drug use is recognized as a problem in the community. The strategy shall also include counselling and education and referral to primary health services and addiction/treatment services. The board of health shall produce an annual report of program activities and forward a copy to the Minister of Health
Program goals
To educate clients to reduce and avoid the risk of transmission of HIV, hepatitis and other blood-borne pathogens by:
- Increasing awareness of the risks involved in needle sharing, other drug using behaviours and unprotected sex. To enhance the skills needed to change high-risk behaviours and/or maintain low and no risk behaviours.
- Providing accurate information on all modes of HIV transmission (including sexual transmission), testing and prevention.
Providing health education, needle exchange, and condom distribution. To encourage self-esteem in substance users and other clients and an awareness of health issues by:
- Increasing awareness of health status regarding HIV and hepatitis B and C by offering testing.
- Encouraging and providing hepatitis A/B and influenza vaccination.
- Providing health education, anonymous HIV testing, confidential testing for hepatitis B and C, Chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, provision of hepatitis A/B vaccine, HIV and hepatitis C counselling and partner follow-up.
To provide a supportive environment for substance users and other clients to access medical and social services by:
- Gaining a client's trust to a point of access for meeting their service and health care needs.
- Referring substance users to treatment, counselling services, medical and other social service supports.
- Providing crisis counselling, referrals to community agencies and drug treatment programs.
|
| Discarded needles in our communities |
|
Keeping Ottawa neighbourhoods safe is our collective responsibility. In an effort to promote community safety, Ottawa Public Health, along with numerous City and community partners, has implemented a variety of measures to provide safe options for disposing of drug paraphernalia and addressing items that have been improperly discarded.
|
| Services provided |
|
Clinical services offered:
|
| Naloxone take home kit training and distribution |
|
Are you at risk of opiate overdose?
| Did you know? |
- Anyone can overdose (first time and long time users, youth and older adults).
- Fentanyl is often made as a powder and mixed with other drugs. It is also being pressed into pills. It is around 50 to 100 times more toxic than morphine. This makes the risk of accidental overdose much higher.
- There is an increased risk of overdose after a period of non-use (like being released from prison, hospital, or a treatment facility) or from a lack of access to drugs.
|
| What can I do to reduce my overdose risks? |
Here are some overdose prevention tips:
- Avoid using alone. Fix with a friend and leave the door unlocked.
- Avoid mixing drugs with prescription and over the counter drugs, alcohol, benzodiazepines, other opiates and/or uppers like cocaine or crack.
- Use one drug at a time if you are mixing and take a break between drugs.
- Inject, snort, or smoke a very small amount first to test its strength.
- Illicit fentanyl is much more toxic than other pharmaceutical opioids
- There is no easy way to know if fentanyl is in your drugs. You can't see it, smell it or taste it
- Fentanyl is being cut (mixed) into both opioid and non opioid drugs
- If you are feeling sick or under the weather, use less and be more careful.
- Use less when your tolerance is low (like when you haven't used in three or more days).
- Let your community agency know if you notice any changes with your drugs.
- An overdose is a medical emergency! If you or someone else is overdosing, do not hesitate to CALL 9-1-1.
|
| What is naloxone? |
| For information on Naloxone and overdoses visit the StopOverdoseOttawa.ca web page |
| What is involved in naloxone take home kit training? |
- Education about the drug Naloxone.
- Overdose risk and myth information.
- Overdose prevention training.
- Steps on how to respond to an overdose.
|
| How do I get a naloxone take home kit? |
| Just walk-in the Site office or call the Site van to get a free kit, certification and training.
You can also visit the Province of Ontario's web page to find the nearest naloxone distribution partner near you.
|
|
| Supervised consumption services (SCS), Site office, Mobile van hours |
|
Ottawa Public Health: Harm Reduction Services-locations and hours
|
Location
|
Day
|
Time
| Telephone |
|---|
|
Needle and Syringe Program Drop-In
179 Clarence St.
|
Monday to Friday |
9 am to 5 pm |
613-580-6744 ext. 29047 |
|
Site Mobile Harm Reduction Van
|
7 days a week |
5 to 11:30 pm |
613-232-3232
Collect calls accepted |
Ottawa Supervised Consumption and Treatment Services -locations and hours
The results of routine and complaint-based inspections conducted for the ministry funded locations are posted on the Consumption and Treatment Services Disclosure website.
|
| Partner agencies / Pharmacy partners |
|
View a map of harm reduction and needle drop box service locations
Over the past few years, accessibility of needle exchange and other harm reduction services in Ottawa have been greatly increased through partnerships with other agencies serving the same clientele.
Both Site Program and partner agency staff are alert for, and take advantage of, opportunities to educate clients on the safe use of syringes/glass stems and other drug using equipment.
Pharmacy partners:
- Trust Care Pharmasave 1020 St Laurent Blvd. 613-749-8577
- Palmyra Guardian 1013 Merivale Rd. 613-729-7117
- Parkway Pharmacy 311 McArthur Ave. 613-749-2324
- Shoppers Drug Mart 1300 Stittsville Main Street 613-831-0901 – please speak to the pharmacist for supplies
- Centre Town Pharmacy 326 Bank Street 613-422-2900
- Whole Health Pharmacy Ogilvie 1150 Cadboro Rd. 613-749-7455
- Respect RX South 1800 Bank St, (613) 414-9555
- Respect RX Vanier 45 Montreal Rd, (613) 422-8181
- Respect RX West 14-2006 Robertson Rd, (613) 422-8181
- Swift Compounding Pharmacy 276 Bank St. 613-422-2202
|
|
Supervised consumption services
|
| What are supervised consumption services? |
|
Supervised consumption services (SCS) provide a safer, clean space for people to bring their own drugs to use, in the presence of trained staff.
Services provide access to important harm reduction, health, social and treatment services, such as (1) :
- access to clean drug use equipment and a place to safely dispose of used items, such as needles, after use
- emergency medical care in case of overdose, cardiac arrest or allergic reaction
- basic health services, such as wound care and access to take-home naloxone kits
- testing for infectious diseases like HIV, hepatitis C and sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
- education on the harms of drug use, safer consumption practices and safer sex
- access or referrals to treatment and addictions services
- access or referrals to social services such as housing or employment supports
- access or referrals to health services, including mental health services
- access or referrals to drug checking services
Please visit Health Canada’s Supervised Consumption Sites and Services webpage to learn more.
|
| What are the benefits of supervised consumption services? |
|
Supervised consumption services can help (1):
- prevent accidental drug overdoses and deaths;
- reduce risk factors leading to infectious diseases, such as HIV and hepatitis;
- provide or connect people to health, social and treatment services;
- reduce public drug use and discarded drug equipment; and
- reduce strain on emergency medical services.
Please visit Health Canada’s Supervised Consumption Sites and Services webpage to learn more.
|
| Are supervised consumption services legal? |
|
Yes. In Canada, supervised consumption services operate through an exemption under Section 56.1 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA). The exemption allows health services to operate without the risk that its clients or staff will be charged for the crime of having illegal drugs. Exemptions are granted by the federal Minister of Health in situations that are seen as "necessary for medical or scientific purpose or is otherwise in the public interest" (2).
|
|
How will OPH support public and community safety the neighbourhood surrounding SCS?
|
|
OPH is working closely with Ottawa Police Services (OPS), the City of Ottawa's Corporate Security Services and Ottawa Community Housing to support safety for staff, clients, and surrounding community and is committed to continuing an ongoing dialogue with residents.
OPH will continue to monitor the situation and work alongside and in support of partners, including the people with lived experience of substance use, community members and neighbours, mental health, addictions, substance use health and social services partners, the Overdose Prevention and Response Task Force, the Ottawa Community Action Plan.
Learn more about Ottawa’s updated Overdose Response Plan which details a seven-pillar framework including a Community Safety and Wellbeing pillar.
|
| Are there supervised injection/consumption services operating in Ottawa? |
|
There are two sites currently providing supervised consumption services in Ottawa and both of these sites are provincially designated as a Consumption and Treatment Service (CTS).
- Ottawa Inner City Health - Trailer
- Sandy Hill Community Health Centre
Both services in Ottawa are operating under exemptions from the federal Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA).
|
| Why do we need supervised consumption services in Ottawa? |
| The overdose crisis, with the increasingly toxic and unpredictable unregulated drug supply, continues to have devastating impacts on people, their families, friends and the community. To learn more about the situation in Ottawa, how we can address this complex crisis together, and where harm reduction and treatments services and supports are available please visit StopOverdoseOttawa.ca. |
| Consumption and Treatment Services (CTS) Compliance and Enforcement Protocol |
|
Learn more about the Ottawa Public Health’s role under the provincial Consumption and Treatment Services (CTS) Compliance and Enforcement Protocol.
The results of routine and complaint-based inspections conducted for the ministry funded locations are posted on the Consumption and Treatment Services Disclosure website.
|
| Questions, Feedback or Concerns related to Consumption and Treatment Services (CTS)? |
| Questions, Feedback or Concerns about Infection Control or Safety and Security issues directly related to a local CTS location: |
- Members of the public can submit questions, feedback or concerns to the Ottawa Public Health online through our complaints and feedback form or by calling 613-580-6744.
|
|
Questions, Feedback or Concerns about Public Safety
|
- In case of an emergency or crime in progress, call 911;
- For a non-emergency situation requiring a mobile police response, members of the public can contact Ottawa Police Service at 613-236-1222;
- To file a non-emergency police report, the public can file a report online or by calling the non-emergency line at 613-236-1222, extension 7300.
- For more information visit Ottawa Police Services.
If there is feedback or a concern about a supervised consumption service that isn’t captured by the CTS compliance protocol, you can contact the organization providing the service directly and speak to a member of their team.
|
|
| References |
|
1. Health Canada- Supervised consumption sites and services – Canada.ca
2. Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. (S.C. 1996, c.19).
|
|
| Drug checking services |
| Local Drug Checking Services |
|
Walk-in drug checking services are currently available at Sandy Hill Community Health Centre and for registered clients of Ottawa Inner City Health’s Consumption and Treatment Service.
|
|
Take home Drug Testing Kits
|
|
As part of a limited time Ontario Harm Reduction Distribution Program pilot, take-home drug testing kits for Fentanyl, Xylazine, and Benzodiazepine are available for free from many harm reduction partners in Ottawa. Ask your local harm reduction agency for more information or call the OPH mobile van at 613-232-3232.
Drug test strips can provide important information about what is in a substance and can help reduce the risk of overdose especially when used along with other harm reduction services. It is important to remember that take-home drug testing strip kits have limitations, and a negative result cannot rule out the presence of Fentanyl, Xylazine, Benzodiazepines or other unknown substances.
Please watch the videos below developed by the Ontario Harm Reduction Development Program (OHRDP) for more information on how to use take home drug testing kits:
|
|
| Safer injection and safer inhalation resources |
- Safer Injecting and Safer Smoking Tips: This pocket-sized resource offers essential tips on how to inject and smoke drugs more safely, helping to prevent harms like vein damage and infections such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV. Designed to fit easily into harm reduction kits, it provides a quick reference on safer drug use practices, such as using new supplies and never sharing equipment.
- What You Need to Know About Wounds: This pocket-sized resource contains basic harm reduction information for people who use drugs about what to do if someone has a wound. It encourages people to talk about wounds with a healthcare provider or harm reduction worker and includes signs that indicate when to get medical care, as well as tips on how to take care of wounds.
- Mapping the Body: Choosing a Vein for Safer Injection: This resource is a pocket-sized and easy-to-understand wallet card about where is safer, less safe and dangerous to inject drugs on the body to help prevent harms such as infection.
|
Feedback
Reporting something to Ottawa Public Health or returning a message