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A CTS is a key component of the Windsor-Essex Community Opioid and Substance Strategy, said the news release, which was released late in the day. Attempts to reach people at the health unit for comment Friday were not successful.

Overdose numbers for Windsor-Essex continue their rapid rise. The number of overdose-related emergency-department visits jumped to 249 in 2019, triple the 78 recorded in 2007 and double the 108 visits in 2016, according to health unit data. Statistics in 2020 show even higher numbers.

For example, there were 33 visits in May, much higher than the 21 recorded in May of 2019. The total number of overdose deaths in 2019 was 43. Forty-four per cent of them were males between the ages of 25 and 44, and 65 per cent occurred in private residences.

Last September, the health unit’s board approved conducting “comprehensive” community consultations to determine a “suitable” and “accessible” location for a site as it moves toward applying for a CTS.

Theresa Marentette, the health unit CEO, said in the news release that staff have been talking to people who use substances and researching existing CTS sites in other communities, to “ensure the application is reflective of the needs and concerns of the community.”

The final step is deciding the proposed location, she said.

“We have progressed as far as we can in completing the application, the next step is to determine a suitable space so that we can provide the provincial and federal governments with detailed information on the physical space.”