Closure of supervised consumption sites could lead to more overdoses, paramedic stress: TPH report
CBC
Toronto Public Health is reporting that the closure of five supervised consumption sites in the city this year will hamper its ability to provide life-saving services, while increasing the workload of paramedics.
The new report, examining the expected impacts the closures will have on Toronto Public Health (TPH) and the city's emergency responders, was prepared by acting Medical Officer of Health Na-Koshie Lamptey. It's slated to be presented to the city's board of health Monday.
Last year, the Ontario government passed legislation that will prohibit supervised consumption sites, which allow for safe consumption of illicit drugs in the presence of trained staff, from being within 200 metres of schools and daycares.
"The new legislation will reduce access to an evidence-based clinical healthcare service leading to an anticipated increase in preventable fatal and non-fatal overdoses," the TPH report says.
That's likely to add strain to Toronto Paramedics Services, the report found after consulting emergency responders.
Since 2019, paramedics have had a 54 per cent increase in calls related to drug toxicity, the report says, and they expect a further increase as more people use drugs unsupervised.
In 2023, Toronto Paramedic Services attended 4,802 calls for suspected opioid overdoses, the report found. That same year, there were 2,941 emergency department visits and 456 hospitalizations due to opioid poisoning at Toronto hospitals.
From March 2020 to May 2024, there were almost 400,000 visits at Toronto's supervised consumption sites, and staff responded to nearly 11,000 overdoses with no fatalities.
The report also consulted Toronto Fire and Toronto Police Service, whose emergency responders are trained to respond to overdose calls. Both services said they couldn't predict what impact the site closures might have, however, Toronto police reported that calls for service have generally gone down in areas around supervised consumption sites compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Earlier this month, the province said nine supervised consumption sites will transition to Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs that will focus on addiction treatment and recovery instead of harm reduction. The government will also spend $378 million to open 19 new HART Hubs.
But the TPH report finds these facilities won't be as effective without safe consumption or needle exchanges, and it's recommending that the board of health urge the province to allow those services. The report also recommends the province provide plans for mitigating health-care system impacts due to the closures.
Ten of the province's 23 safe injection sites are now set to close. Four of those sites are in Toronto, along with a fifth, privately-funded site in Kensington Market.
Pending a legal challenge currently before the courts, the supervised consumption sites would close at the end of March.
During a city budget committee meeting Wednesday, Coun. Chris Moise asked Toronto Emergency Management if they would step up in April to help TPH and paramedics respond to a potential rise in opioids, but staff said that would not be the case.
