Harm Reduction Services in Ottawa

• Anyone can overdose (first time and long time users, youth and older adults).
• Fentanyl is often made as a powder and mixed with other drugs. It is also being pressed into pills. It is around 50 to 100 times more toxic than morphine. This makes the risk of accidental overdose much higher.
• There is an increased risk of overdose after a period of non-use (like being released from prison, hospital, or a treatment facility) or from a lack of access to drugs.

Here are some overdose prevention tips:

• Avoid using alone. Fix with a friend and leave the door unlocked.
• Avoid mixing drugs with prescription and over the counter drugs, alcohol, benzodiazepines, other opiates and/or uppers like cocaine or crack.
• Use one drug at a time if you are mixing and take a break between drugs.
• Inject, snort, or smoke a very small amount first to test its strength.
• Illicit fentanyl is much more toxic than other pharmaceutical opioids
• There is no easy way to know if fentanyl is in your drugs. You can't see it, smell it or taste it
• Fentanyl is being cut (mixed) into both opioid and non opioid drugs
• If you are feeling sick or under the weather, use less and be more careful.
• Use less when your tolerance is low (like when you haven't used in three or more days).
• Let your community agency know if you notice any changes with your drugs.
• An overdose is a medical emergency! If you or someone else is overdosing, do not hesitate to CALL 9-1-1.

• Education about the drug Naloxone.
• Overdose risk and myth information.
• Overdose prevention training.
• Steps on how to respond to an overdose.

Just walk-in the Site office or call the Site van to get a free kit, certification and training.

You can also visit the Province of Ontario's web page to find the nearest naloxone distribution partner near you.

Supervised consumption services (SCS) provide a safer, clean space for people to bring their own drugs to use, in the presence of trained staff.

Services provide access to important harm reduction, health, social and treatment services, such as (1) :

• access to clean drug use equipment and a place to safely dispose of used items, such as needles, after use
• emergency medical care in case of overdose, cardiac arrest or allergic reaction
• basic health services, such as wound care and access to take-home naloxone kits
• testing for infectious diseases like HIV, hepatitis C and sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
• education on the harms of drug use, safer consumption practices and safer sex
• access or referrals to treatment and addictions services
• access or referrals to social services such as housing or employment supports
• access or referrals to health services, including mental health services
• access or referrals to drug checking services

Please visit Health Canada’s Supervised Consumption Sites and Services webpage to learn more. 

Supervised consumption services can help (1): 

• prevent accidental drug overdoses and deaths;
• reduce risk factors leading to infectious diseases, such as HIV and hepatitis;
• provide or connect people to health, social and treatment services;
• reduce public drug use and discarded drug equipment; and
  • reduce strain on emergency medical services.

Please visit Health Canada’s Supervised Consumption Sites and Services webpage to learn more. 

Yes. In Canada, supervised consumption services operate through an exemption under Section 56.1 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA). The exemption allows health services to operate without the risk that its clients or staff will be charged for the crime of having illegal drugs. Exemptions are granted by the federal Minister of Health in situations that are seen as "necessary for medical or scientific purpose or is otherwise in the public interest" (2).

OPH is working closely with Ottawa Police Services (OPS), the City of Ottawa's Corporate Security Services and Ottawa Community Housing to support safety for staff, clients, and surrounding community and is committed to continuing an ongoing dialogue with residents.
OPH will continue to monitor the situation and work alongside and in support of partners, including the people with lived experience of substance use, community members and neighbours, mental health, addictions, substance use health and social services partners, the Overdose Prevention and Response Task Force, the Ottawa Community Action Plan.
Learn more about Ottawa’s updated Overdose Response Plan which details a seven-pillar framework including a Community Safety and Wellbeing pillar.

OPH has enhanced its existing harm reduction services by adding a supervised consumption service (SCS) to its existing services offered at the Site Harm Reduction program at 179 Clarence Street.

On September 22, 2017, under Section 56.1 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, Health Canada provided an exemption to Ottawa Public Health via the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre authorizing the operation of Supervised Injection Services (SIS) on an interim basis by Ottawa Public Health at 179 Clarence Street. On May 10, 2018, OPH was granted an exemption from the Controlled Drugs & Substance Act (CDSA) to operate a Supervised Consumption Site under the section 56.1 of the CDSA, valid for one year.

The Health Canada exemptions allow OPH to offer health services that provide a hygienic environment for people to either inject, swallow or inhale(snort) pre-obtained drugs under supervision. The supervised consumption service (SCS) is staffed with public health employees (including public health nurses, social workers and harm reduction outreach workers) with experience in harm reduction and trained and authorized to provide supervised consumption services.

OPH is working closely with Ottawa Police Services (OPS), the City of Ottawa's Corporate Security Services and Ottawa Community Housing to ensure safety for staff, clients, and the surrounding community 

Clients arrive at the program with pre-obtained drugs. Each person is assessed to ensure they are eligible for the program. Clients are then given sterile injecting equipment or clean inhalation supplies with health teaching on safer drug use. A registered nurse supervises their consumption in a room dedicated for this purpose, and intervenes in the case of any medical emergencies. Once the clients have consumed their drugs, they are directed to a waiting area, and encouraged to stay for 15 minutes to be monitored for any medical emergency or negative drug reactions. Clients also receive information and referrals to other onsite and community health and social services. This small-scale service has 2 consumption booths and is located in the Site Harm Reduction program's existing location at 179 Clarence Street. The Site program and the supervised consumption service are open Monday to Friday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. The SCS is staffed by public health nurses, social workers, and harm reduction outreach workers trained in supervised consumption and overdose response, substance use health and harm reduction.

There are three sites currently providing supervised consumption services in Ottawa and two of these sites are provincially designated as a Consumption and Treatment Service (CTS). Ottawa Public Health operates a SCS site (located at 179 Clarence St.) and the two other CTSs are offered at:

• Ottawa Inner City Health - Trailer
• Sandy Hill Community Health Centre

All three services in Ottawa are operating under exemptions from the federal Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA). 

The overdose crisis, with the increasingly toxic and unpredictable unregulated drug supply, continues to have devastating impacts on people, their families, friends and the community. To learn more about the situation in Ottawa, how we can address this complex crisis together, and where harm reduction and treatments services and supports are available please visit StopOverdoseOttawa.ca.

Learn more about the Ottawa Public Health’s role under the provincial Consumption and Treatment Services (CTS) Compliance and Enforcement Protocol.

The results of routine and complaint-based inspections conducted for the ministry funded locations are posted on the Consumption and Treatment Services Disclosure website. 

1. Health Canada- Supervised consumption sites and services – Canada.ca

2. Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. (S.C. 1996, c.19).  

Walk-in drug checking services are currently available at Sandy Hill Community Health Centre, Ottawa Public Health’s Supervised Consumption Service and for registered clients of Ottawa Inner City Health’s Consumption and Treatment Service.

As part of a limited time Ontario Harm Reduction Distribution Program pilot, take-home drug testing kits for Fentanyl, Xylazine, and Benzodiazepine are available for free from many harm reduction partners in Ottawa. Ask your local harm reduction agency for more information or call the OPH mobile van at 613-323-3232.  

Drug test strips can provide important information about what is in a substance and can help reduce the risk of overdose especially when used along with other harm reduction services.   It is important to remember that take-home drug testing strip kits have limitations, and a negative result cannot rule out the presence of Fentanyl, Xylazine, Benzodiazepines or other unknown substances.   

Please watch the videos below developed by the Ontario Harm Reduction Development Program (OHRDP) for more information on how to use take home drug testing kits:

• Fentanyl Drug Test Strips
• Benzodiazepine Drug Test Strips
• Xylazine Drug Test Strips