Chatham-Kent's new Acting Medical Officer of Health says the number of people dying from opioid-related overdoses is staggering and something must be done about it, but he's not certain a supervised consumption site in Chatham-Kent is the answer.
Doctor Shanker Nesathurai addressed the opioid crisis at the Chatham-Kent Board of Health meeting on Thursday, two days after he was announced as the replacement for Doctor David Colby, who is now officially retired.
Doctor Nesathurai said one of the main goals for the public health unit is to reduce the number of opioid deaths across the municipality.
He said a decision on a local supervised consumption site is up to the board and the community and it will require some examination, adding it could be an option, but it's only one component of the plan to diminish the burden of opioid use disorder.
"That will require some contemplation on what it might achieve, what are the goals, how much resources it would take, would there be better options to use our resources to help people with opioid use disorder, does it make sense in a rural area where people can't travel as easily," said Nesathurai.
Doctor Nesathurai said the issue of supervised consumption sites shouldn't be taken lightly.
"We shouldn't lineup on yes or no about the opioid injection site, but rather how can we collectively think of a program to try and mitigate what is a serious burden to families and also a serious goal of the public health service," Nesathurai said.
Nesathurai said it's staggering and concerning that 45 residents died from drug-related overdoses in Chatham-Kent last year, with 36 of the deaths related to opioids.
"Safe injection sites keep people alive while they're still using for some people and that's worth it in itself, that's a goal. We try to keep people who smoke and have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease alive in the emergency department. They don't have to make a commitment to stop smoking, we still give them oxygen, we still treat their pneumonia," said Nesathurai.
Nesathurai encourages people to have or carry Naloxone kits because they save lives.