Coun. Stevenson asks to stop city-funded agencies from handing out drug supplies

Coun. Susan Stevenson is asking her colleagues on London city council to stop allowing city-contracted agencies to hand out clean drug-use supplies downtown at the same time police are working to curb open drug use.

"It's an effort to deliver on the public's request to reduce the amount of drug use, particularly in the core area," said the councillor whose Ward 4 covers the Old East Village.

Stevenson has put forward a motion that would prohibit the distribution of clean drug-use supplies such as needles, pipes, foil, straws, cookers and snort kits by city-funded agencies.

In explaining her motion to CBC News, Stevenson said it doesn't make sense to have one city-funded service handling out drug supplies as police work to limit open drug use through a program launched last spring.

"[The motion] will prevent municipally allocated taxpayer funding going to a service that's handing out equipment in the very area where other taxpayer funded services are trying to stop it," said Stevenson.

Clean drug supplies are currently distributed in London through a partnership between the Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) and Regional HIV/AIDS connection.

MLHU supplies the kits and Regional HIV/AIDS Connection distributes them through various agencies and through the supervised drug-use site on York Street.

Among the agencies that distribute the supplies is London Cares, which is currently under contract to provide outreach services to people who regularly sleep outside.

Money for the actual supplies comes through the MLHU's budget, which is funded jointly by the province and city.

Stevenson said the two city efforts — policing and providing clean drug-use materials — are currently "misaligned."

She said her motion is partly to address complaints about discarded drug-use supplies on the streets, sidewalks and storefronts. Stevenson said even if her motion is passed, drug-users can continue to get supplies through other agencies.

"They have access to these materials, I'm not trying to stop that," she said. "They should go to their provincially funded places and get it."

Chris Moss, London Cares executive director, said distributing the drug-use supplies is an extension of the work by Regional HIV/AIDS connection and MLHU, and isn't funded by the municipality.

"Police and outreach staff do very different work," said Moss. "Our funding contract talks about using harm-reduction approaches and that's what we do. The cost of the items are not paid for by municipal dollars."