Ontario bans drug consumption sites near schools, child-care centres | CBC News (2024)

CBC News

· Posted: Aug 20, 2024 11:20 AM EDT | Last Updated: August 21

Ontario has banned supervised drug consumption sites within 200 metres of schoolsand child-care centres.

Ten facilities across the province will be forced to stop providing safe consumption servicesbyMarch 2025, and they will be given the option to transition into "treatment hubs."

Health Minister Sylvia Jones announced the decision Tuesday afternoonwhen she addressed the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference in Ottawa.

Of the 10 sites that will be affected by the new rules, five are in Toronto while one each are in Ottawa, Kitchener, Thunder Bay, Hamilton and Guelph. The Government of Canada lists 23 safe consumption sitesin Ontario on its website.

Supervised consumption sites allow people to inject, snort or otherwise take drugs under supervision to reduce the risk of overdose.

Province offers 'HART Hubs' instead

Jones said the province is investing $378 million in 19 of the newHomelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs. If the old consumption sites choose to apply to become a HART Hub, the province said they will be "prioritized."

"Continuing to enable people to use drugs is not a pathway to treatment," said Jones, addingher plan would lead to more people choosing treatment, "not just enabling drug use."

HART Hubs will notoffer "safer" supply, supervised drug consumption or needle exchange programs. Instead, they will offer other forms of support such as supportive housing, employment helpand addiction care.

Jones said there is no one prescriptive formula, so communities can personalize the hubsto suit their needs. She said the province will not fund any new consumption sites to replace any that will close.

WATCH | Ontario to close 10 consumption sites across the province:

Asked whether the province had estimated the number of deaths that would result from closing existing consumption sites, based onthe number of overdoses prevented there, Jones denied that would be an issue.

"People are not going to die," she said. "They are going to get access to service."

Jody Jollimore,executive director of CATIE, a Toronto-basedorganization spreading information and awareness about HIV and hepatitis C, disagreed.

"If these sites close down, people will use their drugs elsewhere — in parks, public washrooms or at home, where they will die if they overdose alone," he wrote in an email to CBC."We need to see a plan for new supervised consumption sites to meet the need."

Organizationsincluding the existing consumption sites that are affected by the 200-metre banwill have until October 2024 to apply to become a HART Hub.

Opposition parties react

In a statement, Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombieagreed that "these sites should not be next to schools," while calling for "smart, compassionate solutions" to the addiction and mental health crisis.

"Doug Ford is taking away more services," she said."He needs to be clear on how they will maintain the capacity required to provide treatment to those who need it."

The Ontario NDP released a statement faulting the provincial government for taking away "critical public health supports from communities amidst an ongoing homelessness and addictions crisis."

"Doug Ford has made the callous decision to take away a vital tool that saves lives," said Windsor West MPP Lisa Gretzky, the party's critic for mental health and addictions.

Nurses' association calls move 'a disaster'

Justin Piché, a professor of criminology at the University of Ottawa, welcomed expanded access to treatment, but he called the consumption siteclosures a short-sighted decision.

"Drugtoxicitydeaths will increase, and that's the bottom line," he said."The province is making a big mistake that is going to cost people their lives."

The Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario also criticized the closures, which its CEO warned would result in more overdoses and more discarded needles in the street, while alsospreading infectious diseases.

"This is actually a death sentence for people that use substances," said Doris Grinspun. "It's a disaster."

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