Outbreak has worsened overdose crisis

Life is now more difficult for poor and homeless, Alexandra Perry writes

Before COVID-19, Canada was already grappling with a public health crisis — the overdose crisis.

Locally, this was made worse by the uniquely high levels of poverty and what others have called Windsor’s homelessness crisis.

It is likely that the number of overdose deaths — particularly among those who are homeless — will increase during this pandemic. And our community will suffer.

Since moving to Windsor, I’ve noticed that some people here seem to have a strange perception of the downtown core as a sort of Gotham City; a locale of crime and moral decay. But when I go downtown, I mostly see the wounds of poverty and addiction. During the pandemic, these wounds may have deepened.

Today, people with nowhere to go sit on ledges and sidewalks up and down Ouellette Avenue. Before the lockdown, individuals could use drugs and dispose of needles in washrooms, many equipped with sharps containers.

With everything closed, public drug use and discarded needles are on the rise. Of course, there are fewer people outside to see it right now.

Narcan or naloxone, a medication that can temporarily reverse an overdose, is widely needed now more than ever.

With the pandemic shrinking supply lines, the street drug supply has become even more contaminated with potentially lethal drugs, leading experts to describe the street drug supply as simply “poisoned.”

Windsor remains one of the few cities without a supervised consumption (or safe injection) site, where people could get off the streets to use and dispose of drug-related materials safely, plus where overdoses could be prevented and treated.

The shuttering of downtown has also impacted basic issues of dignity, privacy and access among homeless individuals.

Because there are fewer places for individuals to use the washroom, people are being pushed outside. Since medical appointments are now generally conducted over the phone, people have to try and figure out how they can have a private phone call.

Given how many other activities of everyday life have moved online, people have to struggle for access to any available public computers — and with libraries closed, that has become even more difficult.

This pandemic has brought about extraordinary changes in the priorities of our leaders. Complaints about deficits have evaporated.

Premier Doug Ford has been a good example of this mindset shift; where once there were never-ending cuts, now there seems to be an understanding that funding our health care system or key social services helps protect us all.

And perhaps this change in perspective has come Windsor’s way.

Last year, Mayor Drew Dilkens described eliminating homelessness as an “aspirational goal,” citing limited funding and concerns about debt.

But recently, Dilkins has proposed a new municipal homeless shelter, saying that the crisis has “laid bare” the need to finally do something about homelessness in Windsor so we can “reboot” downtown.

As the Star’s columnist Anne Jarvis pointed out: “It took a pandemic.”

During the crisis of COVID-19, Windsor’s other crises of overdoses and homelessness cannot be sidelined.

Along with supporting individuals who are homeless, we need to respond to warnings that the pandemic will cause a spike in overdose deaths across the country.

Issues of poverty and addiction are just as urgent, just as life-threatening, just as important. Those who have lost loved ones to overdose feel the same aching pain of loss.

When this is all over, we can learn from this tragedy; we can reshuffle our priorities for good. We can fight for the well-being of Windsor on all fronts.

Our community will be stronger for it.

Alexandra Perry is a Master of Social Work student at the University of Windsor. She resides in Windsor.