‘These sites saved my life’: Advocates rally for Kitchener CTS site

There’s a strong coalition of people advocating to keep the Consumption and Treatment Services (CTS) site in downtown Kitchener open, despite an order from the Ford government that will see 10 of them close around the province next year.

A rally to save the CTS site marched in front of the Region of Waterloo Administration Headquarters on Wednesday during a planning and budget public input session.

Speaking with 570 NewsRadio, one local advocate and recovering addict mentioned that CTS sites saved his life at least 50 times when he was heavily addicted to different narcotics or drugs.

“These sites saved my life: if it wasn’t for these programs I’d have been dead years ago. So now that I’m clean I try and give back as much as I can,” said Aubrey Forgues.

Forgues started his activism in 2017 before the Kitchener CTS site even opened, and is worried things will go back to how they were.

“The amount of deaths was too many, people don’t realize how necessary this is – if it wasn’t for the site, we would probably be seeing it in the thousands not in the hundreds.”

Advocates that participated in the rally hope the Ford government reverses its decision to close the CTS site. Some mentioned they fear what’s going to happen next April if they all close down.

“If we close the CTS people will be using in public spaces, dying in public spaces,” said Yanna Green, who has been volunteering for over a decade with people experiencing addiction or mental health related issues.

Green argued there will be an increase in observable drug use downtown Kitchener.

“People should prepare themselves and always have Narcan on them because this is going to be something that people are going to be seeing a lot once these sites close.”

Narcan, or Naloxone, is an over-the-counter nasal spray that can be used to rapidly reverse an opioid overdose.