All it takes is about five minutes and a sample "smaller than a chocolate chip" for harm reduction staff in Ottawa to know what's in the drugs someone is considering using at a supervised consumption site.Staff at Sandy Hill Community Health Centre in Ottawa can use very small samples to quickly determine what's in the local drug supply.
J.J. Cormier is executive director of the John Howard Society of Belleville. She says the overdoses have been difficult for staff and the clients who rely on the drop-in service her organization runs at Bridge Street United Church. There's no appointment necessary to try the tool. Members of the public can simply walk in between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. and ask to have a sample tested.
Using very small samples — "anywhere from one to 20 milligrams of the drug, so literally smaller than a chocolate chip," according to Derrick St John, a nurse who oversees the supervised consumption site and other harm reduction services — the machine can identify what's in the drugs as long as those substances are in its database.
HPEPH said that would require public support and an application for an exemption from the Controlled Drugs & Substances Act, however the health unit "would be in support of drug testing" as part of such a site.