To deal with a rising rate of overdose deaths, three Toronto health clinics that already distribute hundreds of thousands of clean needles to drug users should be allowed to open “small-scale” supervised injection sites, the city’s medical officer of health says.
While the idea remains controversial, reaction to the proposal from business associations near the clinics and local politicians was muted on Monday. If Toronto’s Board of Health approves the concept at a meeting next month, consultations with the public must be held before city council and the provincial government approve the plan. The federal Health Minister then has the final say on whether the sites can operate.The three proposed sites include the clinic known as The Works, located on the first floor of Toronto Public Health’s headquarters opposite Yonge-Dundas Square, where clean needles have been handed out to drug users since 1989.
In the west end, the service would be offered at the Queen West Central Toronto Community Health Centre, near Queen Street West and Bathurst Street, while in the east, it would be available at the South Riverdale Community Health Centre, on Queen Street East near Carlaw Avenue in Leslieville. Together, these three centres now account for about 75 per cent of the 1.9 million needles the city already hands out to drug users every year.