Concerned by the increase in the number of overdoses in Montreal, the Coalition Ville sans surdoses is coming back to the charge for the consumption and simple possession of illicit substances to be decriminalized in the metropolis, which nevertheless adopted a motion to this effect more than two years ago.
On Friday, the Minister responsible for Social Services, Lionel Carmant, announced that the provincial government would allocate $300,000 a year to the four Montreal organizations that offer supervised consumption and drug checking services, namely Cactus Montreal, Dopamine, Specter de rue and L’Anonyme, to support them in the fight against the overdose crisis.
Annie Aubertin, Executive Director of Specter de rue, welcomes this funding with relief since it will allow the organization to restore its opening hours, which had to be reduced due to budget cuts.
However, she mentions that the decriminalization of drug possession is an important part of the solution to combat the overdose crisis, which is raging in several cities in Quebec.
” [La décriminalisation] would avoid so much unnecessary stigma, jail time, or unnecessary tickets. It just makes this “perfect storm” that we currently have with the lack of housing, the lack of physical and mental support for these people,” she underlines.
The organizations deplore the fact that, because of the stigma resulting from criminalization, users or their loved ones are reluctant to ask for help and to call emergency services in the event of an overdose.
In January 2021, Montreal City Council adopted a motion in which the City positions itself in favor of the decriminalization of simple possession of drugs. British Columbia has already decriminalized drugs, and the City of Toronto has asked for it.
The motion recalls that several organizations are in favor of decriminalization, such as the World Health Organization, the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and the SPVM.
To avoid the application of the Criminal Code prohibiting drugs, cities or provinces must apply for a formal exemption from the federal government. However, Montreal has not taken this step, despite the adoption of its motion two years ago, underlines the Coalition.
Councilor Josefina Blanco indicates that the City is “always [disposée] to meet [les organismes] to sit down, hear them, see what their points of view are and continue discussions”, but that certain steps must be undertaken beforehand. “These are not files that are worked on alone in our area. We really need to reflect and observe what is happening in other Canadian cities, and in due course, discussions can take place. »
Urgency to act
Meanwhile, the crisis is reaching alarming proportions, and organizations are criticizing the double talk of elected officials.
“If these are people who need more care than prison, we will have to stop saying it and do it. How ? By changing the laws. British Columbia did it, Toronto requested it, where is Montreal’s request? asks Martin Pagé, director general of the organization Dopamine.
On July 11, Montreal Public Health sounded the alert about a “record number of reports of non-fatal overdoses” linked to the presence of opioids (fentanyl, nitazenes), but also benzodiazepines and xylazine, which slow heart rate and can cause respiratory arrest when taken in large quantities.
There are also 172 deaths possibly linked to overdoses in Montreal between the months of April 2022 and May 2023. The situation is appalling the actors in the field, who note the increasing fatigue of the workers in the field.
“For workers working at supervised injection sites, it’s like working in an emergency room. Resuscitating someone is difficult, it’s never beautiful. Yes, we save a life, but tomorrow we have to start again because nothing is done, ”explains with concern Chantal Montmorency, executive director of the Quebec Association for the promotion of the health of people who use drugs and spokesperson for the Coalition.
“I have the impression that the City is taking its time because the electorate it is looking for is not us,” adds the community organizer. I have the impression that Valérie Plante thinks that it is not with these people that she will win. We are really not one of his priorities. »
The group has not heard from the City since the launch of a campaign for decriminalization last March, underlines Laurent Trépanier-Capistran, lawyer and coordinator of the legal information service VIH Info Droits and member of the Coalition Ville sans surdoses.
“The Plante administration did not meet with us, nor did it deign to respond to our requests to meet them at this level. We have had no communication with them since the beginning of the campaign. I do not understand why the City of Montreal limits itself to not wanting to present this motion, ”he says.