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A new poll suggests most Ottawa residents are in favour of a safe injection site, even though the seriousness of the opioid crisis has yet to register with many of them.

The Mainstreet Research poll, conducted for Postmedia, found that 53 per cent of those surveyed support the plan to open a safe injection site in Ottawa.

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The pollsters found that 32 per cent of respondents disapproved of the idea; 15 per cent offered no opinion.

Officials from the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre have submitted a proposal to the federal government and hope to open a facility this spring that would allow clients to take drugs under medical supervision.

“Ottawans generally approve of seeing safe injection sites in their city as a tool for harm reduction,” said Quito Maggi, president of Mainstreet Research.

The polling firm surveyed people from 10 Canadian cities on the same question. Only those in Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver supported the move to open safe injection sites in their cities.