The Government of Ontario’s decision to ban safe consumption sites within 200 metres of schools and childcare centres will force ten life-saving facilities across the province to transition into hubs that offer far less services. If they do not, they will be forced to close.
This decision further stigmatizes drug users by painting them as a threat to children and youth. However, safe consumption sites ensure that drugs are used in a specific location, with equipment disposed of safely, away from public spaces, such as parks.
It is immoral and reprehensible that politicians would reduce care for some of our most vulnerable community members as we live through an opioid crisis that has killed more than 40,000 Canadians.
Ottawa currently has four safe consumption sites, half of them located in Community Health Centres. The sites are designed to prevent fatal overdoses by allowing people who use drugs to consume substances with oversight from health care workers and they have led to 6,433 overdose interventions since 2020. They also have broader benefits – safe consumption sites reduce the strain on health services, especially emergency rooms and ambulance services.
Harm reduction services are critical to addressing the crises we all face around affordability, mental health, housing, health care, etc. All levels of government need to fund lasting solutions that address this addiction crisis.
The closure of these ten sites will hurt all members of our community. Cuts like these will only put more strain on our healthcare system, undermine our public services, and give lobbyists and politicians the rhetoric they need to push privatization in Ontario.
We urge the Government of Ontario to keep safe consumption sites open.