Hundreds will lose access to safe consumption when some Toronto sites close: study

Hundreds of people will lose access to supervised consumption sites in Toronto when the province closes five of them next year, which will likely mean more public drug use and more overdoses, a new study suggests.

Hundreds of people will lose access to supervised consumption sites in Toronto when the province closes five of them next year, which will likely mean more public drug use and more overdoses, a new study suggests.

The Ontario government announced in August that it would close 10 supervised consumption sites across the province next spring because they were too close to schools and daycares.

Five of those sites are in Toronto, leaving another five open. A sixth centre in the city may shut down once its lease runs out next year.

Ontario is shifting away from harm reduction to an abstinence-based model and it intends to launch 19 new "homelessness and addiction recovery treatment hubs" – or HART hubs, as the province calls them – plus 375 highly supportive housing units at a cost of $378 million.

The supervised consumption sites slated for closure are set to be shuttered by March 31, 2025.

Researchers from St. Michael’s Hospital’s MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions and the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network combed through supervised consumption site data and found that, on average, 1,366 people used the Toronto sites monthly in 2022.

The researchers estimate 561 of those people used the sites that are now slated for closure.