Safe Injection sites

Hamilton’s overdose prevention site has been open since June and has seen a steady increase of the number of people using the services there. Staff say they have saved lives and seen a decrease in the number of overdoses in the area.

The room at the Hamilton Urban Core Community Health Centre has been open for almost 3 months for people to safely use illegal drugs.

In the first month they had more than a hundred visits, that number more than doubled in July, and this month they are well over 300.

There’s been about a dozen overdoses where patients were treated by staff there.

People bring their own substances and they get clean needles and syringes and can inject under the watch of medical professionals.

It’s in the area where most of the city’s overdoses occur.

While they don’t know the updated numbers yet for this year, last year in Hamilton, 87 people died from opioid overdoses. The names of some of those individuals have been written on the wall outside the urban core.

Clients have access to things like clean equipment, naloxone kits, addictions supports and housing services.

While it’s too early to say just how much of an impact this site is having on the opioid crisis, Hamilton’s Medical Officer of Health says it is helping.

The site is temporary and the funding will run out in November. The hope was to find a permanent site, but there’s uncertainty now after the province put a freeze on funding while it does an independent review.