Before Maison Benoît Labre opens in the new year in St-Henri, the staff is hard at work to dispel worry about its location near a school and to explain why its services are so vital.
Public health authorities have closely monitored Canada s overdose crisis since 2016, and the phenomenon continues to claim victims including in Montreal, where advocates say the problem is getting worse.
Six years after the opening of supervised drug use sites in the city, and while a serious overdose crisis continues to claim thousands of victims across the country, the lack of nurses is seriously affecting the effectiveness of these essential harm reduction services.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Montreal has seen a troubling rise in opioid fatal and non-fatal overdoses, as the street drug market has been flooded with toxic mixes of new drugs containing dangerous combinations of chemicals.