The last days of Kitchener’s safe drug-use site

The day she was due to open the doors to Kitchener’s supervised drug consumption site, Violet Umanetz went into the supply cupboard and had a little cry.Like so many places, her Southwestern Ontario city was being swept by a wave of drug overdoses caused by the potent synthetic opioid fentanyl. The aim of the site was to give people a place to use their drugs in safety, with clean needles available to prevent infections and watchful attendants to come to their aid in case the drugs overwhelmed them.