By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
The old war-on-drugs approach didn’t work, the more recent safe-supply has not proven to be a panacea – so Northumberland County council is hoping lessons learned from both might shape the way forward in dealing with the crises surrounding the opioid-overdose crisis.
To this end, they have voted support of the efforts of the Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge District Health Unit to renew its drug strategy with an eye toward lessons that have been learned from both approaches at council’s October meeting.
Port Hope Councillor Olena Hankivsky recalls the recent presentation to county council by HKPR Medical Officer of Health Dr. Natalie Bocking, and her remarks that the first step would be robust community consultations.
“We offered to kick-start those conversations,” Hankivsky said.
“Those community consultations need to continue, they need to be inclusive, all voices need to be at the table.”
Mayor Lucas Cleveland also called for approaching the process with a willingness to learn from past mistakes. For many, he said, the safe-supply concept is a gold standard from which no deviation can be made.
In the end, council passed a resolution calling for continued support of the health unit in a renewal of a drug strategy to develop treatment options and broad community consultation and education, with this strategy brought back to county council for discussion and ratification.
