Ontario’s first legal drug-overdose prevention site opens Monday in London.

The site, temporary while the search continues for a permanent site, will be located at 186 King St.

The site is part of the health unit’s response to the opioid crisis sweeping Canada, whose toll ran to nearly 1,500 people in the first half of last year alone.

The London site, embebbed within the Regional HIV/AIDS Connection program location, has been granted an exemption from Canada’s criminal drug laws.

The same location is already home to a needle exchange program and is familiar to people who inject drugs, the Middlesex-London Health Unit said Friday.

The temporary site, which has provincial approval to operate for at least six months, will offer a safe place to take drugs under medical supervision, with clean equipment and easily accessible naloxone, an opioid antidote, nearby.

The site will operate Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and on weekends from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

danbrown@postmedia.com

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