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CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
New residential addictions treatment facility planned in Hamilton following closure of safe drug use site
Social Sharing A new residential addictions treatment program will open in Hamilton after the province closed the city's only safe drug use site early this year. The program will be located at 276 Aberdeen Ave. and be run by the Hamilton Urban Core Community Health Centre (often called Urban Core) to support people "facing substance use challenges," it said in a statement posted to instagram on Wednesday. Residents won't be allowed to smoke or consume alcohol or non-prescription drugs. Details are scarce about how many beds will be available, when it will open, and how and if nearby residents and elected officials will be consulted and informed. It's executive director Sandy Ezepue did not respond to requests for comment. Coun. Maureen Wilson, who represents the ward it will be in, said she originally learned of the plan from city staff in the spring and initiated a meeting with Urban Core. Neither Urban Core nor the province has held a public information session, but flyers were handed out at a local street festival, taking residents by surprise and raising more questions than answers, Wilson told CBC Hamilton. "Some have questions, some have concerns and some have both and I think that's perfectly normal and understandable," she said. "I understand why they would be unhappy because there was no direct engagement." Urban Core had run the safe drug use site up until it closed in March, which allowed people to bring drugs to use in a supervised environment to prevent overdose deaths. The Ford government then selected Urban Core to run a Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) hub to offer a range of other services. Among them will be the residential treatment program, said Urban Core. When asked for more information, the Ministry of Health directed CBC Hamilton to its Hart hub website and said it opened "as planned" on April 1. Overdose spiked in July: paramedics Hamilton Centre NDP MPP Dr. Robin Lennox said in an interview that while the hub may have opened then, it's still not fully operational. She said Urban Core is currently offering mental health and addictions counselling, case management, cultural programming, identification support, laundry services, meals and nursing staff from its Cannon Street location. The services aren't that different from what the community health centre offered before the HART hub opened, said Lennox, who got an update from Urban Core last week. She's also a family doctor who specializes in substance use care. Watch | How harm reduction is supposed to work: Drug users and harm reduction: How it's supposed to work 2 years ago Harm reduction services like needle exchanges and supervised consumption sites have been a topic of heated debate on P.E.I. CBC's Tony Davis talks to advocates and public health officials about what harm reduction is, and how those services are intended to work. "We really want to see a [provincial] opioid strategy that saves lives and allows people to access services they need when they need it," Lennox said. "For the HART hubs to do that, they really need to be adequately funded, rolled out transparently with good community consultation so people feel comfortable with the services, and we need to be able to measure their outcomes." The impacts of closing Hamilton's safe drug use site can already be seen reflected in overdose numbers from this summer, Lennox said. In March, when the site was still open, paramedics responded to 39 suspected opioid overdoses, according to city data. In April, once the site was closed, that number increased to 66 incidents. In July, paramedics responded to 134 suspected overdoses — the highest number since at least 2017, when the data recording started. 24/7 staffing planned Lennox has advocated for more safe drug sites, not less, because she said they save lives. She also supports more addiction treatment options like the program being planned by Urban Core. "I will also root for more access to treatment for people who want it in our city," she said. "The number of treatment beds is far below the demand." Wilson also supports the province funding more housing and health services, noting the "lack of investment" is clear across Hamilton, particularly the lower city. "My job is not to take a position on whether this is the right model," Wilson said. "My job is to ensure the neighbours get the answers to the questions they have." Urban Core said in its statement it recognizes the importance of "open and proactive communication" and will be attending events, knocking on doors and hosting an open house. The Aberdeen location will have staff on site round the clock, including security guards, nurses, treatment counselors, coaches, physicians and nurse practitioners, Urban Core said. It is working to get all zoning and building permits and Ministry of Health approvals needed to operate. The City of Hamilton said neither planning nor building division have received anything related to the address.
Globe and Mail
2 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Letters to the editor, Aug. 8: ‘Travelling our great country should be a must before one can claim to be truly Canadian'
Re 'The harm reduction approach should apply to tobacco, too' (Aug. 5): I smoked for years on and off before switching to vaping, which I stopped several years ago. We shouldn't just see it as harm reduction. There's certainly evidence that vaping is 'safer' than smoking. I still find it wildly irresponsible to say that virtually no one has died from it. Directly, maybe not. But in 2020, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 2,807 cases of 'e-cigarette or vaping use-associated lung injury' and attributed 68 deaths to it. Hardly 'zero, or close to it.' One feature of vaping may actually make it more dangerous than smoking: lack of consumption control. When I smoked, I knew pretty precisely how much I was smoking, and I could only do it outside. Vaping I could do pretty much anywhere, any time. I still have no idea how much nicotine I absorbed. That's the opposite of harm reduction. It's actually terrifying. Jade Schiff Ottawa We do not know how harmful vaping is. With tobacco, it takes decades for lung cancer to appear. Late into the 20th century, smoking rates were at about 50 per cent of the adult population in Canada and the United States. It took until the 1950s for doctors to document the harm; the long gap in causation was deceptive. Smoking rates in Canada have declined markedly to 12 per cent thanks to smoke-free spaces, high taxes, warnings and the advertising ban. In Britain, there is a bill before Parliament to get numbers down further by raising the minimum age to which merchants can sell cigarettes by a year each year – and creating a 'smoke-free generation' by stopping most young people from starting. And why would anyone believe cigarette companies that say vaping is safe? These very people denied any causal effect of smoking for decades. Lynn McDonald CM, former MP, author, Non-smokers' Health Act, 1988; Toronto Nicotine is not 'relatively harmless' as promulgated by the tobacco industry. It is more addictive than alcohol. It promotes cancer by angiogenesis (although it may not actually cause it) and has been banned as a pesticide in the European Union because it is too toxic for the environment – but not too toxic, apparently, for the human lung. Now sweetened, flavorful nicotine pouches are causing an increasing number of youth and children to attend hospital due to nicotine poisoning. If this is a relatively harmless drug, I would hate to see a toxic one. James Wigmore Forensic toxicologist, author, educator; Toronto As a retired public health nurse who has worked in the prevention of tobacco use and with cessation among people who want to quit smoking, I find this opinion a disservice to youth and the consequences of nicotine addiction. Once neuro pathways are developed in youth by consuming nicotine and other chemicals, they are in place for a long time. They make individuals vulnerable to every kind of nicotine, including the smoking of tobacco. Quitting smoking is difficult and there are aids for quitting besides vaping. However if we want to compare vaping to antidepressants as harm reduction, then at the least it should be by prescription only for individuals wishing to quit. Carol McDonald Ottawa I am all for harm reduction when it comes to the use of any addictive, potentially harmful substance. Far too often, blanket prohibition and abstinence-only approaches do not work. As for vaping as a harm reduction tool, I would add to the equation the importance of education around appropriate use. For instance, many people do not realize that some vaping products contain more nicotine than a cigarette. For longtime smokers wishing to quit tobacco with the help of vaping products, nicotine replacement programs in communities, at the least, could educate folks on how to use such products appropriately to meet their goals. A 'just say no' approach did not work for Nancy Reagan in the 1980s, and it most certainly does not work now. Jayce Sale Guelph, Ont. There is an assumption that people who use vapes would smoke cigarettes if it wasn't an option. As a high-school teacher for more than 30 years, it is my observation that smoking had almost disappeared from teen life before vaping brought it back. This is like saying it's fine to drink six Diet Cokes a day, at least it's not drinking six beers. I doubt that people who drink Diet Coke would replace it with beer if it didn't exist. Baruch Zohar Moncton Re 'How the 'discovery' of fentanyl changed North America' (Opinion, Aug. 2): Fentanyl depresses the respiratory centre while keeping the cardiovascular system stable. It has been an ideal intraoperative anesthetic agent for more than 50 years. A patient is sedated and unconscious with airway intubated, lungs ventilated and pain reflexes dampened. An awake person will stop breathing while conscious and die if the antidote (nalaxone) is not given or repeated until the drug is metabolized. I don't think fentanyl should be used outside of the operating room. I believe such drug dealers are guilty of murder or attempted murder. Elizabeth Oliver-Malone MD, FRCPC (retired); Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. Re 'Home turf' (Letters, July 31): I emigrated to Canada from Britain in 1977 and promised myself then that I would see my new country. Little did I realize what that meant. I have since visited each province and territory several times, every major city and north of the Arctic circle. The education is priceless, the beauty astounding and the variety of landscapes, wildlife, cultures and attitudes reinforces what a massive country we live in. There are no ugly places, each represents its own history. Some have been more favourably endowed than others, but that is the beauty of living in a country still exploring itself, discovering what works where. Unless we visit and listen, we cannot begin to understand our country and our cultures, so different between urban and rural, between provinces and particularly between north and south. Travelling our great country should be a must before one can claim to be truly Canadian. Gordon Moore Toronto Re 'The biggest and quirkiest roadside attractions to see on your next Canadian road trip, according to readers' (Online, Aug. 3): No Wawa Goose? You snubbed the big fella and he is not pleased. Beware the wrath of his descendants next time you visit a park. Tom Driedger Toronto Letters to the Editor should be exclusive to The Globe and Mail. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Keep letters to 150 words or fewer. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. To submit a letter by e-mail, click here: letters@
CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
Scarred by Afghanistan, Ottawa-area veteran finds healing, purpose in art
Anxiety is a relatively new feeling for retired warrant officer John Gorrell. It's not something he experienced before he joined the Canadian Armed Forces, nor during much of his 31 years of service. But over the last couple of years, it's something he's had to battle every day — though it's been made easier with the launch of his graphic design business and a vibrant new project in one eastern Ontario town. Gorrell can't pinpoint the moment he began struggling with his mental health, but says it can probably be traced back to his tours in Afghanistan in 2007 and 2010. He'd served in Croatia, Cyprus and Kosovo before that, but something was different about those tours. "There was always a threat hovering over us," he said. "We'd come back from patrol and we were just exhausted because of the stress and the anxiety. Exhausted. That's the only way I can describe it." The debilitating anxiety followed him home. He was diagnosed with PTSD and sought counseling. Then, a close friend and fellow soldier died by suicide in 2017. That was the "straw that broke the camel's back," Gorrell said, ending with him being medically released from the military. "[My friend] never talked about his mental struggles," he said. "His family knew something was wrong, but there was a stigma. You're a soldier, it's weak to have a mental illness." Gorrell says return to civilian life has been difficult because he was comfortable living a military life, and isn't used to dealing with "the way things present themselves in daily life." Turning to art Since retiring, he's retrained as a graphic designer and launched his own business, Crippled Chicken Creations. He says he's getting some work, although it's "not the greatest." Recently he's taken on one of his most ambitious projects yet: the painting of a large mural at the local bowling alley in Deep River, Ont. It's given him a routine, pride and purpose. "It's like going back to work again," he said. "I'm a bit nervous about what I'm going to do afterwards because it'll be a lot of free time on my plate." A common story in the veteran community Fardous Hosseiny, president and CEO of the Atlas Institute for Veterans and Families, says Gorrell's story speaks to how difficult it can be to find meaning in post-service life. "It's not just a career change. It's a full identity shift. Veterans are stepping away from a role that gave them structure, purpose and belonging," he said. The transition can be even more difficult for those who struggle with PTSD and the accompanying symptoms. Hosseiny says recent data shows there has been a sharp decline in veterans reporting good mental health, from 65 per cent in 2010 to just 40 per cent in 2019. There was also a spike in Canadian veterans looking for support and resources after the Taliban took over Afghanistan in 2010. "We did see that a lot of folks felt a sense of guilt because of the time they spent away from their family to help support the mission there and then what occurred," said Hosseiny. He says Atlas is pushing for moral injury to be recognized as a formal diagnosis, so there can be more research into treatment options that address the emotional and spiritual dimensions of trauma. As for Gorrell, he says his art has helped keep his trauma at bay. He says he'll keep focusing on it, and his children, and advises other veterans to do the same. "When I do art, the whole day goes by and I forget the issues I may have, there's no stress, no anxiety," he said. "You've got to find something you love."
