Some politicians are expressing concern about public safety and demanding more consultation after Toronto’s medical officer of health recommended the city move ahead with three supervised drug injection sites.
Proponents of the project, on the other hand, say that letting users shoot up drugs like heroin under nurse supervision will save lives and actually improve public safety.
Conservative health critic Dr. Kellie Leitch is among the critics.
“As the Official Opposition we are very concerned about what this report might mean for the law-abiding residents of Toronto,” Dr. Leitch said in a written statement sent by the Conservative Party.
“The drugs that are used at these sites, mostly heroin, are dangerous and addictive.”
Dr. Leitch said she wants “rigorous, public consolation as per the requirements of the Respect for Communities Act.”
The Respect for Communities Act was written by the Conservative government after a 2011 Supreme Court of Canada decision forced them to allow an exemption to federal drug laws at the country’s first safe-injection site, Insite, in Vancouver.
Interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose, who served as health minister, also cited the Respect For Communities Act in comments to reporters Monday.
“If you … want people to be able to bring heroin into a location and shoot it up in a neighbourhood in a way they won’t be sent to jail,” Ambrose said, “there are conditions you have to meet.”