OTTAWA – The city’s board of health has voted in favour of encouraging supervised injection sites in Ottawa.

At Monday’s meeting, the board voted to support the idea of opening facilities; a place where drug addicts are given clean needles and nurses are on hand if someone overdoses.

Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Isra Levy says, on average, 33 people die every year in Ottawa from unintentional drug overdoses, and that a supervised injection site would lower than number.

The Sandy Hill Community Health Centre is working towards opening a supervised injection site by the spring of 2017. The board’s approval encourages the continuation of those and other plans, but ultimately it would be the federal government that would approve the injection plan for the site.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson and Police Chief Charles Bordeleau remain opposed to the idea.