Opioid crisis lands at City Hall

Front-line addiction workers met behind closed doors with Sault Ste. Marie City Council for two hours Wednesday night to discuss the local opioid crisis.

Members of the Sault Ste. Marie Area Drug Strategy Committee conducted a private educational workshop for Mayor Provenzano and councillors.

"These are very, very serious issues," the mayor said.

"When I was younger... the drugs that were publicly available, they weren't as prolific as they are now. They also wouldn't kill you."

All that has changed, Provenzano said.

"The drugs that are available to our youth – and not just our youth but people who have dependency issues – they're really dangerous. Some of these drugs can instantaneously kill you."

The origins of Wednesday's training session began well in advance of the February broadcast of Steel Town Down: Overdose Crisis in the Soo, the W5/ Vice Canada documentary that rocked the community with its portrayal of how dangerous synthetic opioids like fentanyl and carfentanil have spread here.

Provenzano said he met Desiree Beck from the Group Health Centre last fall at the local Recovery Luncheon, an event he tries to attend each year.

Beck is co-chair of Sault Ste. Marie Area Drug Strategy Committee and a harm-reduction worker featured prominently in Steel Town Down.

Beck caught the mayor's ear at the Recovery Luncheon, talking about wanting to raise awareness of the Sault's opioid situation.

The two held a further meeting last year, culminating in Wednesday's intensive training session for City Council.

"Where the municipal council doesn't have a direct mandate in health care, we do have the ability to get people together and raise the profile of an issue and talk about something," the mayor said.

Provenzano said a broader, public presentation to City Council will follow "at some point in the near term."

"There's a lot of work to do," he told SooToday.

"We'll keep going, focused on these challenges and we'll keep doing what we can to support the community at large."