The opening of an interim safe injection site has been approved by Ottawa's Board of Health.
Medical Officer of Health Dr. Isra Levy proposed opening the interim site at the sexual health centre at 179 Clarence St. with the hope of replacing the illegal pop-up site run by volunteers in a Lowertown park.
A permanent safe injection site is not scheduled open until later this fall in Sandy Hill.
Levy says there is an urgent need to enhance harm reduction services in the city.
Numbers from Overdose Prevention Ottawa say there have been 765 visits in the 24 days of operation at the Lowertown tent complex.
The volunteers running the site have expressed interest in assisting at Clarence, but the group has not guaranteed it will shut down the unlicensed site.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Ottawa Public Health has confirmed to Newstalk 580 CFRA that OPH has supplied Overdose Prevention Ottawa with needles and other harm reduction supplies.
In an email to CFRA's Brian Lilley, OPH says their Site Needle and Syringe Program mobile van "has been at the pop-up site location and has supplied the organization with harm reduction supplies."
OPH says further they work with various groups through their Peer Overdose Prevention Program.
"Overdose Prevention Ottawa is a peer-led organization and OPH will continue to work alongside and in support of partners, including local shelters, other local harm reduction service providers, peer-led services and the Ottawa Overdose Prevention and Response Task Force to extend the reach and to increase access points to harm reduction services in our community, in the common goal of saving lives from potential overdoses," the statement says.
With files from CTV Ottawa and Brian Lilley