Visits to London's supervised drug consumption site drop by half amid deepening opioid crisis

Troubling trends are emerging as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on street level drug use comes to light.

According to a report for the Middlesex-London Board of Health, opioid overdose deaths rose from an average of eight per month in 2020, to a monthly average of 12 during the first half of 2021.

Meanwhile, the number of visits to the consumption and treatment services site at 186 King Street, where supervised drug use takes place, dropped by more than 50 per cent during the height of the pandemic:

• 28,859 visits in 2019
• 20,047 visits in 2020
• 14,013 visits in 2021

HIV/AIDS Connection, which operates the site, points to pandemic restrictions, related staffing challenges and nearby construction for the drop in visits.

“As COVID [cases] went up, our restrictions went up, but our space was not changing. We ended up moving from four booths down to one [booth] at times,” explained Sonja Burke with HIV/AIDS Connection.

“I’m not going to have any friends left pretty soon,” worries 39-year-old Charles, who asked CTV News London not use his last name, after losing a close friend last month to a fentanyl overdose.

Yet, he remains an infrequent visitor to the supervised drug consumption site.

“I use it once in a while, I’m an occasional user, but otherwise I do it safe [here],” he explained from a cardboard shelter in a Dundas Street doorway.

Drug use in a core area parking lot in London, Ont. on May 18, 2022. (Daryl Newcombe/CTV News London)Burke says everyone has their own unique barriers to visiting a supervised consumption site — the key is to find out why and without judgement.

“We need to build trusting relationships and sometimes it takes multiple referrals,” she added.

Burke says progress is being made to construct the city’s permanent consumption and treatment services site at 446 York Street. It will be designed to adapt to some of the challenges experienced over the past two years if pandemic restrictions return.

“The facility is much larger, we are going to have much more room for wrap-around services,” said Burke.

Burke adds that visits are starting to rebound since pandemic restrictions eased.

The Middlesex-London Board of Health will receive an update about the local opioid crisis at its meeting on May 19.