THUNDER BAY — NorWest Community Health Centres will be offering substance screening again, starting Monday.
The organization received federal funding through the City of Thunder Bay for a mobile drug testing unit. It effectively replaces the same service that used to be offered at the Path 525, the region's only supervised consumption site, before the province mandated it be shut down at the end of March.
“We knew with the closure of Path 525 that we had a very great service, such as a drug analyzer, that we wanted to put in a mobile unit that would be accessible for anywhere in the community,” Juanita Lawson, the chief executive officer at NorWest said in an interview.
“Our team will be going out with this mobile unit with harm reduction workers, or outreach workers, and … they'll be able to provide immediate and timely access for individuals who are using substances who want their substances tested.”
Thunder Bay, again, had the province's highest rate of deaths due to opioid poisoning in 2024, according to statistics from the Office of the Chief Coroner. Public health officials and front-line workers have cited the prevalence of fentanyl in street drugs, as well as other dangerous additives used to cut the substances as major contributors to the crisis.
That’s why, advocates say, having access to a way of knowing what is in the illicit drug supply is so important.
“We all know the risk of overdose and toxic poisoning from the supply is no secret,” said Justin Gill, a harm reduction support worker at NorWest. “People should be able to have the right to understand what's in their supply.”
To get a substance tested (people can do so anonymously), a person will bring a very small amount to the mobile unit — Gill said it can be as small as a grain of salt — which will then be put into a bag and initially tested. Gill said it will then be dissolved in methanol and evaporated, leaving whatever trace elements there may be behind. The process takes about five minutes, he said.
The results are posted on NorWest’s website, where they’ve been collecting data on what’s been showing up in the street drug supply, dating back to when Path 525 was operating.
Lawson said the funding NorWest has received will cover the program for one year. Right now, she added, the van will be on the road from Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. to start. Its locations will be posted to NorWest’s website. People will also be able to call NorWest to find out where it is, and the mobile team directly on a cell phone that will be posted online, she added.
“While this is a new initiative, we're also open to hearing from (organizers) such as music festival coordinators or other individuals that might be holding events where they want to offer this service,” Lawson said.
“Again, part of that is building the knowledge and the awareness of this.”
Getting a drug testing service back online took a lot of work, Lawson said, adding that having the service as a mobile initiative is something NorWest has wanted to do for a while.
She said the organization had to get a fresh exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to offer the service.
“We have to have places where we can store any substances, lots of protocols, lots of checks and balances, so that's a good thing to keep our staff and clients safe,” Lawson said.
“It also is to make sure we're doing what we need to do for when people use our drug analyzer, that we're giving them the accurate information they need to make informed decisions.”
Gill, who said he has previous lived experience with substance use and addictions, said it’s a service that’s greatly needed.
“I've seen the dangers of how it is behind closed doors,” he said.
“So, it really warmed my heart to know that there's a chance for people to see what they're getting their hands on.”
