Thunder Bay’s safe drug use site ‘not just a place to come get high,’ says client amid Ontario closure fallout [Video]

For years, Michael Baker has been a client at Path 525, the only safe drug consumption site in Thunder Bay, Ont., and says staff there have saved his life over a dozen times.

Baker is also a volunteer at the site and says he, in turn, has helped saved the lives of a dozen people who’ve overdosed by using naloxone kits provided by Path 525. 

News this week that Path 525 — along with nine other safe consumption sites in the province — will close next year has left him devastated.

“It’s not just a place [for] safe injection. It’s not just a place to come get high. It’s the hub, I guess, of Thunder Bay’s harm reduction network,” said Baker, who has been without a permanent home for several years and lives in a tent.

“It’s a place to get referrals to other programs.”

Path 525, which is run by NorWest Community Health Centres (NWCHC), opened in 2018. Last summer, Ontario launched a “critical incident review” of all safe consumption sites…