Health Canada approves Saskatoon safe consumption site, first-ever in Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan’s first-ever safe consumption site for drug users is officially coming to Saskatoon.

Health Canada’s website indicates AIDS Saskatoon has been approved to run a supervised consumption site, with approval running from July 31 until the end of July 2020.

The exemption allowed under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act includes inhalation, injection, intranasal and oral.

AIDS Saskatoon had already begun renovating its new location at 1516 20th St. W., near St. Paul’s Hospital in the Pleasant Hill neighbourhood.

The group announced its plans for the site in February, saying the facility would serve as a method of harm reduction — with an aim at reducing drug overdoses and HIV infection.

The safe consumption site will see drug users provided with clean instruments to ingest illicit substances while under the supervision of medical professionals. It will also offer access to addictions, mental health and social support services to help people turn away from drugs.

AIDS Saskatoon executive director Jason Mercredi told 650 CKOM it was a relief to get approval, after years of hard work behind the scenes.

“We want to do everything we can to work with those people who are victims of the drug trade, who got caught up in that cycle of addiction and help them out of it,” he said.

The organization held a series of open houses and conducted door-to-door surveys in the Pleasant Hill neighbourhood to gauge support for the project. Mercredi told 650 CKOM in April the canvassing resulted in 74 per cent of residents supporting the site.

He said Tuesday that a recent spate of violence in the Pleasant Hill area has only boosted the feeling that the safe consumption site is needed.

“That just reinforces that’s the neighbourhood we should be in,” he said. “These people are members of the Pleasant Hill community, and community members I think want to see their family down that path to recovery.”

Saskatoon Police Chief Troy Cooper said in May that he was monitoring the application process closely, while also doing research on how policing resources were affected by similar sites in other cities across Canada.

At the time, he noted 16 per cent of all drug-related calls in Saskatoon came from the Pleasant Hill neighbourhood — including eight per cent within 250 metres of where the safe consumption site is set to open.

Mercredi noted the Health Canada approval isn’t the final hurdle for the site. A police report going to the police board of commissioners on Thursday indicates there may be a need for additional resources due to the facility.

In light of that, Mercredi said he’ll be making a trip with members of Saskatoon police to Vancouver to observe and analyze how safe consumption sites impact the surrounding area.

“We’re going to be working collaboratively to make sure we’re figuring out what’s working, what’s not, and making sure to have a plan in place for Saskatoon,” he said.

AIDS Saskatoon is planning to begin operations at the location in October, but the safe consumption site isn’t expected to open until sometime in 2020.

Ahead of the opening, there will be several open houses to invite the community in to learn how the facility will operate and what it will look like.

In the meantime, Mercredi said the group is planning on ramping up community needle patrols, as well as garbage cleanup, to help improve life in Pleasant Hill.