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By Jordan Parker

Supervised Consumption Services site expected by April

Dec 7, 2017 | 5:00 AM

A Supervised Consumption Service site could become a reality for Grande Prairie by April 2018.

HIV North Society executive director Melissa Byers expressed confidence Alberta Health would provide funding.

But the battle against opioid overdoses in the city may gain traction on four wheels.

“For the mobile site, we need to respond to an immediate need in our community in regards to the amount of overdoses we’re seeing, as well as publicly discarded debris,” said Byers.

“I believe a mobile site is the first step for supervised injection, and we can provide that immediate response we’re needing.”

In a presentation at the Grande Prairie Regional College on Tuesday, Byers and staff presented staggering numbers from 200 participants who use substances, over a three-month span during summer.

It was revealed 61.5 per cent of those surveyed used more than four times a week. Also, 19 per cent of respondents said they had an opiate poisoning overdose during a six-month period.

Byers said some of the results were difficult to process.

“One of the things that I think is most powerful is how people are using and where they’re using,” said Byers.

“People indicated in the survey that if they are using in outside locations, they are doing so because of homelessness.”

Alberta Health would be providing the funding for the site to get going, and Byers says the society is currently changing their written proposal to ask for a mobile site rather than an integrated-service building.

“I’m confident we can (get an integrated site) in the future. That will definitely take some more work and navigation,” she said. “I’m thinking it will be a bit of a more lengthy process.”

The proposal is expected to be complete and submitted by January 15, 2018.

Byers estimates initial retrofitting and renovation costs for the mobile unit at $250,000, with additional costs for staff and to run the site still to be tallied.
 
 

by Jordan Parker