A harm-reduction vending machine may be coming soon to Brantford as part of an action plan from local stakeholders looking to address the opioid crisis in both communities.
The machine — called Our Healthbox — dispenses health information and items like HIV self-testing kits, naloxone and other harm-reduction supplies to vulnerable populations, and is accessible after-hours.
Putting harm-reduction supplies within easier reach — particularly in Brant County — is a key objective of the Brantford-Brant Drug Strategy Action Plan for 2024.
The plan provides a road map for addressing high-priority initiatives identified by the community drugs strategy co-ordinating committee, made up of public health agencies, municipal organizations, and community and social service providers.
While rates of opioid-related fatalities continue to climb nation-wide, Brantford-Brant continues to trend well above the provincial average.
In 2023, Ontario averaged around 24 suspected opioid-related deaths per capita, while Brantford-Brant averaged around 38. In the same time frame, the rate of provincial emergency department (ED) visits for opioid overdoses was 82 per capita, while Brantford-Brant averaged around 169 per capita, according to the action plan.
“The factors that drive those rates are extremely complicated,” Alyssa Stryker, drugs strategy co-ordinator for Brant County Health Unit (BCHU), told The Spectator.
“It’s almost certainly a combination of a variety of different factors working in tandem,” she added, pointing to the area’s struggles with social determinants of health, a need for increased service capacity, and the unpredictability and potency of the illicit drug supply.
Locals are also contending with additional drug-related consequences, such as skin and soft tissue infections — a leading driver of drug-related visits to the ED — disease transmission, littered drug paraphernalia, and “the far-reaching negative effects of stigma on both people who use drugs and their families and friends,” according to the action plan.
The committee hopes wider access to harm-reduction tools will help reduce the negative impacts of drug use for people who use — and the community as a whole, the action plan says.
Currently, the local AIDS Network Van receives about 115 monthly calls across the Brantford-Brant area, according to the organization.
The service confidentially delivers items like sterile syringes, cookers and naloxone, and is the only place individuals can access the full spectrum of harm reduction tools in the county, Stryker said.
The committee is looking for county partners to carry additional harm-reduction supplies, with an emphasis on places that are “accessible and low barrier to people who use drugs, and whose staff are committed to providing services in a stigma-free way,” Stryker said.
Another key initiative outlined in the plan involves bringing safer supply — medications that can be prescribed by a nurse practitioner or family physician, as an alternative to street drugs — to the county and Six Nations.
These prescriptions like methadone, Kadian, and Sublocade, can help with withdrawals and cravings, and pain management, Katharine O’Connell, program manager at Grand River Community Health Centre (GRCHC), told The Spectator.
O’Connell said safer supply can improve physical wellness and emotional regulation, reduce risky behaviour such as sex work or selling substances, and reduce fatalities and overdose-related ED visits.
Some of the additional initiatives in the action plan include:
Expanding access to drug checking services
Last year, BCHU piloted a fentanyl test strip distribution program, giving individuals who use the ability to check their drugs for the opioid.
While helpful for folks who believe they are purchasing nonopioid drugs, Stryker said many folks buying an illicit opioid are likely purchasing fentanyl knowingly.
“Many people would prefer to be purchasing heroin if available, but it’s just not an option anymore,” Stryker said. “Fentanyl from the illicit market is itself highly contaminated with other high-potency opioids as well as nonopioid sedatives, making it even more dangerous,” she added.
Work this year will include reviewing the results of the pilot to see if an ongoing program would be beneficial, as well as piloting xylazine test strips.
The nonopioid tranquillizer has been contaminating the illicit opioid supply, and has been associated with skin and soft tissue infections, as well as heavy sedation, according to the action plan.
Starting a Drug Treatment Court (DTC)
The committee is seeking a judge to oversee a program that would allow applicable individuals with low-level criminal drug-related offences to enter a treatment program rather than going through the typical court process.
In this situation, a dedicated treatment provider works alongside the court, the crown and other DTC members, to support participants in graduating from the program, Nathalie Houle, spokesperson for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, told The Spectator.
Continued work toward a CTS site
Although the province has paused applications for consumption and treatment services sites, the CTS Working Group will continue planning and working on the public awareness and education involved in opening a site in Brantford.
However, even once applications reopen, it will still be “quite a long road ahead before any site in Brantford would open to the public,” Stryker said, pointing to the challenge of finding a suitable location, and the extensive community engagement process that follows.
Celeste Percy-Beauregard’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. The funding allows her to report on stories about Brant County. Reach her at cpercybeauregard@torstar.ca.
