Advocates denounce the Government’s deliberate choice to legislate an increase in deaths, public drug use, and healthcare costs by eliminating supervised consumption services
This statement can be attributed to the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, Drug Strategy Network of Ontario, HIV Legal Network, and Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario.
November 20, 2024 – Earlier this week, the Government of Ontario tabled a bill that will prohibit most life-saving supervised consumption services (SCS) in Ontario, firmly closing the door through which many people access critical supports, including voluntary addiction treatment and other care.
Among the proposed restrictions is a requirement that all SCS be located at least 200 metres away from schools or childcare centres, which will force the closure of most of Ontario’s existing sites and effectively prohibit any new sites, cutting people off from vital care where and when they need it and gravely increasing risk of preventable death.
By introducing this legislation, the Government of Ontario is deliberately ignoring the evidence demonstrating that SCS save lives, reduce emergency department visits, and improve safety and security for everyone. The Government’s own lawyers have warned that the misleadingly named Community Care and Recovery Act is likely violating the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and specifically the right to safety and security of people who use drugs.
The legislation also prohibits municipalities and local boards of health from participating in proven, life-saving safer supply initiatives, and decriminalizing simple drug possession — depriving municipalities of the ability to manage increased deaths, strain on first responders and hospitals, and financial costs due to the unregulated drug crisis, which are deeply felt at the local level.
According to both internal Government advice and independent evaluations, it is widely expected that this proposed law will:
- Kill, injure, or otherwise harm constituents;
- Increase drug use in public places such as parks and school yards;
- Increase the chances of people, including children, witnessing overdoses;
- Increase the amount of discarded drug use equipment in public spaces;
- Increase the workload for already overburdened first responders, hospital emergency rooms, and other frontline staff; and
- Increase costs to taxpayers.
There is near unanimous consensus about the negative impacts impending closures will have. This dangerous development comes at a time when 10 people die every day in Ontario due to the unregulated drug crisis. Ample studies, including internal government reports and independent evaluations, consistently demonstrate the public health and safety benefits of SCS. According to a recently released report on SCS in Ontario, “Ontario’s supervised consumption services have recorded 1.12 million visits from 178,000 unique clients” since March 2020, and “have facilitated more than 530,000 service referrals — including to housing, case management, and substance use treatment — and successfully reversed 22,000 overdoses. Additionally, data from Toronto demonstrate that neighbourhoods with supervised consumption services subsequently experienced 67% reductions in overdose mortality, while other neighbourhoods showed no significant decreases.”
SCS also reduce public drug use and discarded drug use equipment. Contrary to the Ontario Government’s claims that crime has increased in neighbourhoods with SCS relative to other neighbourhoods, a recent study found decreases in rates of homicide, assault, and robbery in the vicinity of an SCS after opening.
Since 2018, when the current provincial government came to power, there has been a significant shift from people injecting drugs to smoking drugs, yet the provincial government bans SCS from allowing inhalation, forcing people to use in public. Less visible public drug use has long been an option for the provincial government; they have not chosen to go this route.
SCS alone will not solve the unregulated drug crisis, but they are a vital component of the response. Denying access to SCS will put people at unacceptable risk of preventable death. Organizations from the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, unions representing more than one million workers, and medical, health, social service, and faith organizations, among others, all support expanding — not defunding — SCS. The co-announced HART hubs are certainly no substitute for the services offered at SCS nor are they expected to meet the demand for evidence-based, voluntary, publicly funded and not-for-profit addiction treatment.
We call on the Government of Ontario to renounce this proposed Act that, without question, harms the residents and communities of Ontario. We urge policymakers to accept the evidence and embrace initiatives that serve the public interest.
For more information about SCS and the current state of the law in Canada, please read this recent report: https://www.hivlegalnetwork.ca/site/scaling-up-supervised-consumption-services-what-has-changed-in-canada/?lang=en
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Quick Facts
Supervised consumption services (SCS) and provincially funded Consumption and Treatment Services (CTS) provide a safe, hygienic environment for the consumption of unregulated substances purchased by consumers, and also offer a wide range of onsite medical, health, and social services not available to clients elsewhere, including referrals to addiction treatment. Between March 2020 and March 2024, more than 533,624 referrals to external services have occurred.
The announcement to defund SCS, introduce legislation, and offer ‘HART hubs’ up to select organizations was first made in August 2024. There was no consultation in advance.
Affected SCS are not permitted to move, and SCS have been directed to wind down operations as the province will not fund them after March 31, 2025. The provincial Health Minister has said no new SCS will be permitted.
HART hubs are no substitute for SCS. More than 80 applications have been received for up to 19 sites.
Police data in communities such as Toronto, Guelph, and Kitchener show a decline in crimes with CTS relative to the rest of the city.
Every $1 spent on CTS is associated with $5.12 public health cost savings.
The burden of Ontario’s toxic drug tragedy on health and medical providers is extreme: since 2018, more than 12,809 hospitalizations and 74,665 emergency department visits have occurred and, since 2019, more than 20,728 EMS calls for overdose emergencies have been logged. There is no capacity for more work certain to arise after SCS are forcibly closed.
Since the 2018 election, more than 22,000 Ontario residents have died from the unregulated drug supply, and toxic drug policies that facilitate this harm.
Internal advice provided to the Ontario government does not support defunding CTS:
“There is a high risk that reducing access to harm reduction and overdose support services will result in increased emergency department visits, health impacts, overdose and death. Indigenous, Black and low-income individuals may be more adversely impacted as they face higher barriers to healthcare and for Indigenous populations, disproportionately higher rates of opioid-related deaths.”