Support for Consumption and Treatment Services Approval and Funding (Motion #11-23)

Moved by Lapierre – Masood

Approved by Board of Health for Public Health Sudbury & Districts, February 16, 2023

11-23 SUPPORT FOR CONSUMPTION AND TREATMENT SERVICES APPROVAL AND FUNDING

WHEREAS as recognized by motion 14-21 Sudbury and districts continue to experience an opioid crisis with the second highest opioid-related death rate in Ontario; and

WHEREAS the Ontario Public Health Standards require boards of health to collaborate with health and social service partners to develop programs and services to reduce the burdens associated with substance use; and

WHEREAS evidence shows that supervised consumption sites, as a harm reduction strategy, reduce overdose deaths, increase access to treatment and other health and social services, reduce transmission of infectious diseases, including HIV and Hepatitis C, reduce public injection of drugs, and reduce publicly discarded hazardous syringes; and

WHEREAS the provincial application for approval and funding for Sudbury’s Consumption and Treatment Services was submitted in August 2021 and the application remains under review; and

WHEREAS Réseau Access Network received the required federal exemption and has been operating Sudbury’s supervised consumption services site since September 2022 with temporary operating funds provided by the City of Greater Sudbury; and

WHEREAS there is uncertainty about the future of supervised consumption services in Sudbury given the temporary nature of current municipal funding and the outstanding provincial application;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Board of Health reaffirm motion 14-21, sounding the alarm on the local and regional opioid crisis – a crisis that has continued to intensify since 2021; and

THAT the Board of Health urge the provincial government to immediately approve funding for the Sudbury supervised consumption services site, operating as a Consumption and Treatment Services site under the Ontario model; and

FURTHER THAT this resolution be shared with relevant federal and provincial government ministers, area members of parliament and provincial parliament, local municipal leadership, the Chief Medical Officer of Health, and boards of health.

CARRIED

This item was last modified on February 24, 2023