Stating it doesn’t endorse or condone illicit drug use, the group operating the Trinity Group Centre drop-in centre in downtown Peterborough, Ont., says it’s providing a “discreet” space the place unsupervised drug use can “take place safely.”
Opening in November 2023 on the former Trinity United Church on Reid Avenue, the centre affords a daytime drop-in program and a winter in a single day program (October to March) which might accommodate as much as 45 unhoused people. The drop-in applications are funded by way of a three-year, $2.7-million settlement with the Metropolis of Peterborough.
Nonetheless, latest issues have been raised over reported illicit drug use, theft and rubbish buildup on the property.
In an announcement, One Metropolis Peterborough, which runs the centre, says it embraces a harm-reduction method in its work that “prioritizes safety, dignity, and community.”
The centre does supply a day by day hurt reductions work program with the Peterborough AIDS Useful resource Community (PARN).
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One Metropolis says using the “best-evidence-based” analysis on hurt discount fashions, it has designated a “discreet area” the place unsupervised drug use can happen safely.
There’s a secure consumption and therapy service centre at close by Simcoe Avenue.
“Instead of the alternatives — in secret, outside, in hallways, washrooms, or in the main sleeping space among other guests,” an announcement reads. “This space is not part of the area or services funded by the City of Peterborough, and is only open at night when the Consumption and Treatment Services (CTS) is closed.”
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Government director Christian Harvey says the centre just lately held a gathering with space companies and residents to deal with points.
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“I am under no false pretenses that we can fully solve this,” Harvey instructed Ontario Chronicle on Thursday.
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Quite a lot of companies declined to touch upon Thursday for worry of retaliation.
The Metropolis of Peterborough in an announcement to Ontario Chronicle notes the centre is an unbiased group, with One Metropolis utilizing some area for different applications which can be separate from the city-funded drop-in providers.
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“One City has assured the City that illegal drug use is not permitted in the programs and spaces it provides that are funded by the City of Peterborough,” an announcement reads
The Peterborough Police Service in an e-mail confirms they’ve acquired complaints relating to the drop-in centre. Police additionally say it would use its “Safer Public Spaces” focus that has a zero-tolerance method to open-air illicit drug use.
“The Peterborough Police Service cannot go into specific cases but, yes, we have received citizen-generated complaint calls about illicit drug use at Trinity Centre,” police said.
“As a result, we are having continued conversations with the management, city and neighbours. Yes, the Safer Public Spaces approach would be used if appropriate to the call for service.”
Harvey says prohibiting drug use in shelters, with out providing various secure locations, forces people to cover drug use, inserting everybody at a larger danger.
“It’s not that we condone — it’s not even that we are a safe injection site — we’re none of those things,” stated Harvey. “But what we do is we acknowledge that it happens. And so we say if it’s going to happen, there’s an area — that is not funded by the City of Peterborough — where that can happen.”
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The group says hurt discount is “love in action” and that drug overdoses have declined within the final a number of months.
“There are significantly fewer drug poisonings, zero overdose fatalities, fewer needles in the space or on the property, and a safer relationship between staff and guests,” One Metropolis states.
One Metropolis says “no one is disposable.”
“We can do our best to ensure a safer, more compassionate community that doesn’t treat these issues as someone else’s problem or turn a blind eye to drug use despite the deadly consequences.”
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