Drug analyzer goes mobile in Thunder Bay, Ont., in wake of consumption site's closure

Sarah Law · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 12, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

Before Justin Gill began moving astatine NorWest Community Health Centres (NWCHC), helium thought fentanyl was the astir toxic substance impacting cause users successful Thunder Bay, Ont.

But helium was wrong.

Using the organization's cause analyzer machine, helium recovered traces of carfentanil — which is 100 times stronger than fentanyl — and nitazenes successful the substances radical brought in.

"That was precise alarming," helium said. "People deliberation they're getting 1 happening but there's aggregate things successful their substance that tin termination them successful precise tiny amounts."

The Thunder Bay territory continues to person the highest opioid-related decease complaint successful Ontario, astatine astir 5 times the provincial average.

Meanwhile, the region's lone supervised depletion tract — Path 525 — closed astatine the extremity of March owed to caller provincial rules astir however adjacent sites tin beryllium to schools and childcare settings.

NWCHC, which operated Path 525, is present the pb spouse for a caller Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hub successful town. However, dissimilar supervised depletion sites, these hubs bash not let cause consumption, safer proviso oregon needle speech programs.

In bid to proceed operating its cause analyzer machine, NWCHC sought a national exemption nether the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. The enactment received enactment from the City of Thunder Bay to get the programme up and moving done the Emergency Treatment Fund.

This week, the enactment launched a caller mobile outreach van, which has been retrofitted to let the instrumentality to beryllium utilized connected board.

"It tells you precisely each azygous happening that's successful there," said Gill, who formerly worked astatine Path 525 and is present a harm simplification enactment idiosyncratic for the mobile outreach van.

"When radical travel to trial their substances, I don't cognize whose it is oregon wherefore they're investigating it, right? But for immoderate crushed it is, everybody deserves to know."

Increasingly toxic cause supply

Juanita Lawson, enforcement manager of NWCHC, said the enactment was already looking into offering mobile cause checking services earlier Path 525's closure.

"One of the breathtaking things we'll beryllium capable to bash is to spell to locations successful the city, marque it — we're hoping — much accessible for individuals who mightiness not person travel into our program," Lawson said.

"Then besides going to events specified arsenic euphony festivals oregon going to locations successful the metropolis wherever we cognize radical mightiness beryllium utilizing substances, and making definite they person access."

The cause checking instrumentality uses Raman laser exertion to scan substances, conducting either hint scans of tiny samples oregon bulk scanning done a wide bag.

"It lone needs a tiny amount, truthful I'm not going to beryllium taking a large chunk of the proviso from the client," Gill said.

NWCHC posts summaries of its cause tests online to fto the assemblage cognize what's successful the thoroughfare supply. In January, astir 63 per cent of the substances tested were not what clients expected.

The much toxic a substance is, the much hard it is to reverse the effects of an overdose caused by its consumption, Lawson said. 

By educating radical astir what's successful the substances they have, this allows them to marque an informed prime astir whether they privation to devour them, she said, which successful crook tin trim overdose rates and easiness the strain connected the community's exigency aesculapian services.

"Our workers who are connected the autobus volition beryllium capable to bash immoderate wellness teaching astir however to possibly usage smaller doses oregon perchance not usage that substance astatine all," Lawson said.

Building spot with clients

A cardinal portion of the program's occurrence is the outreach workers connected board, who are capable to physique a rapport with radical who usage drugs successful the community.

"We cognize our outreach workers … tin make safe, trusting relationships with individuals that travel in, nary questions asked," Lawson said.

"We conscionable privation radical to beryllium harmless and we privation to besides supply them immoderate resources that they mightiness request to navigate to different services."

Long-time advocator Kyle Arnold is much than six years into betterment from addiction and a well-known fig successful Thunder Bay's betterment community. He is present a assemblage enactment idiosyncratic specializing successful addiction for Long Lake #58 First Nation. 

"I deliberation that it's truthful captious to person outreach and outreach [from] radical with lived experience, because astatine the extremity of the day, we are precise alert of however to woody with those benignant of situations," Arnold said.

His anticipation is that the mobile outreach van helps span the spread successful services resulting from Path 525's closure, helium said.

"It adds a batch of information to the assemblage of cause users," said Arnold.

NWCHC is continuing to usage the escaped LifeguardConnect app to contented alerts astir toxic substances successful the community. The app includes accusation astir opioids and addiction services.

For those consuming substances alone, they tin usage the app to acceptable a timer, which volition alert exigency aesculapian services of their determination if it's not turned disconnected — signalling a imaginable overdose. 

The mobile outreach van is operating Monday done Friday from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m., though NWCHC is seeking feedback connected however it tin beryllium expanded going forward. A representation volition beryllium posted to its tract soon of the way the van volition instrumentality and wherever radical tin find it.