The last days of Kitchener’s supervised drug-use site
The day she was due to open the doors to Kitchener’s supervised drug consumption site, Violet Umanetz went into the supply cupboard and had a little cry.Like so many places, her Southwestern Ontario city was being swept by a wave of drug overdoses caused by the potent synthetic opioid fentanyl. The aim of the site was to give people a place to use their drugs in safety, with clean needles available to prevent infections and watchful attendants to come to their aid in case the drugs overwhelmed them.Months of preparation and paperwork had gone into the opening. Would the idea, pioneered in Vancouver, work in Kitchener? Would anyone even show up?As it turned out, people started arriving within minutes to use their drugs in the site’s two consumption booths. They have been coming ever since. More than 60,000 people have passed through the doors since opening day in October, 2019. The staff have reversed more than 1,000 overdoses. Some visitors drop in several times a week, not just to use...