A third virtual town hall meeting covered possible impacts on businesses and the community at large. — Photo courtesy of the Dr. Peter Center

By Camille Andersen

The third virtual town hall on the proposed supervised consumption site (SCS) took place on Thursday, August 12. This meeting focused on the community and business impact of a site in Somerville.

The panelists included Mayor Joe Curtatone, Mélanie Renaud who is a Canadian business owner next to a SCS, Michael Pizziferri who works for the Quebec government from Boston, and TJ Thompson who is a harm reduction specialist.

The meeting opened with statements from Mayor Curtatone about why Somerville should open a site. “It is a health crisis,” he said in reference to the number of overdoses the state sees each year. He emphasized that communities are more prosperous when their members are healthy, and this site would help all members of our community.

Since Canada has successfully launched supervised consumption sites, several people on the panel spoke about their experiences living or working in Canada to provide Somerville residents with firsthand knowledge.

Mélanie Renaud’s café in Montreal is next to a supervised consumption site. She spoke about her experiences before the site opened such as people injecting in the café bathroom. After the site opened, there have not been any more incidents of people using drugs in the café. She also noted that the site had an open house for surrounding businesses and offered ongoing support to businesses and community members who have questions.

Michael Pizziferri works for the Quebec government and spoke about the community impacts of the 3 fixed locations and one mobile supervised consumption site in Montreal. The sites have been part of their health strategy to offer a suite of support for the most vulnerable populations. A common concern is that people from outside communities will congregate and flock to new sites. Pizziferri said that they have not experienced this in Canada, because people are only willing to go a short distance.

In response to a question about the cost benefit analysis of the proposed site, Thompson noted that the site would save the city millions of expenses from overdoses, police response, wound care, and hospitalizations. Panelists emphasized that preventive measures and harm reduction alleviate strain on the healthcare system.

The location of the site remains undetermined. The proposed site will contain many services in addition to safe injection such as overdose prevention, basic medical care, recovery services, and counseling. As conversations surrounding the site continue, Thompson emphasized the need to create a safe environment at the site and continue to address racial disparity surrounding involvement in the creation of this site. For more information, read the full report on https://www.somervillema.gov/departments/programs/somerville-supervised-consumption-site-report.