Dr. Thomas Kerr explaining the Insite treatment centre at the London Public Library last week.
London’s board of health is endorsing the idea to move forward with setting up supervised injection sites in the city.
The board received the information from the feasibility report released last week at the meeting on Thursday night.
“It will be essential that as we proceed that [we are careful] and make sure that all the due diligence has been taken,” Councillor Stephen Turner, Director of Environmental Health and Infectious Diseases for Middlesex-London Health Unit said. “It’s not a fast process. It does not happen overnight.”
Last week, health officials discussed the possibility of implementing sites in Old East Village or the downtown core.
Turner says that there are legal matters that London will have to work out before being able to move further with the initiative.
“If the municipality were to apply for an exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to provide those supervised injection services, they have to satisfy the federal government,” Turner said.
Community leaders, businesses and other organizations are planning to meet to discuss bringing supervised injection sites to London.
