Toronto’s acting medical officer of health says emergency services will see an increase in calls after new provincial laws shutter five supervised drug-use sites in the city this spring.
Dr. Na-Koshie Lamptey is recommending that the city’s board of health urge the province to expand access to supervised drug-use sites that comply with the new rules, including at existing sites that are expected to continue operating.
But in addition to shutting down 10 supervised drug-use sites across Ontario due to their proximity to schools and daycares, the provincial government has banned new sites from opening altogether.
The province is moving away from harm reduction to an abstinence-based model as it launches 19 new “homelessness and addiction recovery treatment hubs” – or HART hubs, as the province calls them – plus 375 highly supportive housing units at a planned cost of $378-million.
Lamptey is recommending that the new hubs permit needle exchange programs, and would also like to see the province’s plans to mitigate health system impacts.
But the province says it is forging ahead with its planned restrictions, citing safety concerns raised by families near the sites as the driving force in its decision.
