Unfair: Ontario city drops safe consumption bid over years-long delay [Video]

With no end in sight to the delay in supervised consumption site approvals, organizers have made the difficult decision to withdraw their application for the Barrie site.

The multiyear campaign ended earlier this week when the Canadian Mental Health Association Simcoe County and Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit released a joint statement.

Applications for a consumption and treatment services site at 11 Innisfil St. were submitted to Health Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Health on Oct. 7, 2021, by the Canadian Mental Health Association’s Simcoe County branch.

The application was approved at the federal level by Health Canada on Sept. 9, 2022, renewed in September 2023, and endorsed by the City of Barrie. Yet since then, applicants say they have had little communication regarding the status of their application.

After years in limbo, the CEO of the local mental health association, Valerie Grdisa, said the applicants couldn’t afford to wait any longer.

“I think it’s unfair to the people who use …