The Mayor of Cambridge is once again throwing her support behind the idea of a future consumption and treatment services (CTS) site in the city as locals are being asked to have their say on a pair of potential locations.
Two candidate locations have been identified at 15 Easton St. and 8 Oxford St.
"After the 27 potential sites that our real estate and staff team looked at, these two sites met most of the criteria," said Cambridge Mayor Kathryn McGarry, adding that neither site is perfect but both can be renovated if needed to make sure all required services can be offered and all safety requirements can be met.
She also acknowledged the contentious conversation surrounding the idea of opening a CTS site in the city which has been ongoing now for years.
"In the meantime, we also understand that we need to try and provide more harm-reduction and treatment services that will assist people in finding a pathway to get treatment for their addictions," said McGarry.
McGarry said it's also critical to note communities across the province have seen a marked increase in the number of overdose-related deaths during the past year as the ongoing pandemic continues to push more people into using drugs on their own.
"There's no one answer here, there's no silver bullet, if you will, to try and mitigate some of the damage and the harm to people and our community through drug addiction," McGarry said. "What we're trying to do is find yet another way to add to the broader integrated drug strategy and response mitigations that we have."
McGarry also pointed to the experiences of other CTS sites already up-and-running, which suggest that it's the consumption part that brings people through the door.
"Very rarely are they having folks just arrive on the doorstep looking for further treatment and access to other support systems that they have whether it's for medical help or harm reduction supplies," she said. "So, although it's a polarizing issue for many, we also know from the experiences of other CTS sites that this is a method of developing trust for somebody, for preventing overdoses in the community."
As for concerns that having a new CTS site in the neighbourhood will lead to needle debris in the streets and more petty crime, McGarry says that hasn't been the local experience.
"What the experience in Kitchener is, area residents and businesses have reported a marked decrease in the number of people who are loitering or any issues they've had there," she said. "The team from the consumption and treatment site does daily needle checks [...] within a prescribed circle around the building to ensure there's no needle debris there, and the number of overdose-related EMS calls has decreased.
"So there [have] been very positive experiences," she said.
