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This statement can be attributed to the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, the Drug Strategy Network of Ontario, and the HIV Legal Network.

November 27, 2024 — Toronto, ON | We are watching with grave concern as the Government of Ontario attempts to force through radical legislation that will eliminate life-saving supervised consumption services (SCS) and prevent access to other evidence-based responses to an unregulated drug crisis that is killing 10 people in Ontario every single day. 

We appeal to the government to withdraw their time allocation motion. Experts in the care for people with substance use disorder and other people who use drugs are anxious for the opportunity to speak to Committee about this bill and the devastating effects it will have on Ontarians. The opportunity for such expertise to inform the contents of this Bill is an opportunity afforded by our parliamentary democracy for good reason. It ensures that our laws are informed by evidence and lived experience.

“The government’s attempt on Tuesday to force this devastating bill through the legislature — without debate or committee study — sent a very clear messages to all people in this province: democratic process doesn’t matter, evidence doesn’t matter, and the workload of health, medical, social service and first response workers doesn’t matter,” says Michael Parkinson of the Drug Strategy Network of Ontario. “Most frighteningly, the government is saying that people’s lives in Ontario do not matter.”

The Premier and Health Minister are well aware of the appalling consequences that will follow if these vital health services are prohibited. “The government has been warned by their own internal counsel of the devastation expected to occur in communities across Ontario, particularly among Black, Indigenous, and low-income people,” says Beeta Senedjani of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition. “This bill would legislate an increase in deaths of our loved ones, public drug use in our neighbourhoods, and healthcare costs that will affect all taxpayers.” In bypassing debate and committee review, the Ontario government would silence elected representatives, community members, and public health and scientific experts who would have provided the evidence that SCS are, unequivocally, in the public interest.

According to both internal government advice and independent evaluations, it is widely expected that this proposed law will:

• Kill, injure, or otherwise harm people in Ontario by removing their access to life-saving harm reduction services in the event of an overdose emergency; 
• Increase drug use in public places such as parks and school yards; 
• Increase the chances of people, including children, witnessing overdose emergencies; 
• 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; 
• Reduce ambulance availability for all members of the public; and 
• Increase costs to taxpayers.

There is near-unanimous consensus about the negative impacts these impending closures will have, of which the Government of Ontario is aware and is willfully choosing to ignore. Ample studies, including internal government reports and independent evaluations, consistently demonstrate the public health and safety benefits of SCS. Ontario’s supervised consumption services have recorded 1.12 million visits from 178,000 unique clients since March 2020, according to a recent report, and have successfully reversed 22,000 overdoses and facilitated more than 530,000 service referrals to housing, case management, substance use treatment, and more. Additionally, data from Toronto demonstrate that neighbourhoods with supervised consumption services subsequently experienced 67 per cent reductions in overdose mortality, while other neighbourhoods showed no significant decreases. These services are desperately needed. 

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.

If passed as drafted, Ontario would soon see the dire impact of government officials determining health policy based on opinions, ideology, and political calculations instead of public interest. “Our loved ones will die. Our communities will suffer. The Government of Ontario knows this, and is proceeding with reckless abandon,” says Sandra Ka Hon Chu of HIV Legal Network. “Our organizations — and many others across the province, country, and globally — will continue to advocate for SCS to remain open.” 

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Media Contacts: 

• Beeta Senedjani, Canadian Drug Policy Coalition
  [email protected] 
• Sandra Ka Hon Chu, HIV Legal Network
  [email protected] 
• Michael Parkinson, Drug Strategy Network of Ontario
  [email protected] 

For more information about SCS and the current state of the law in Canada, see this recent report from the HIV Legal Network: https://www.hivlegalnetwork.ca/site/scaling-up-supervised-consumption-services-what-has-changed-in-canada/?lang=en

Ontario stonewalls health and human rights groups seeking support for evidence-based supervised consumption services

Ontario, Canada | Aug 7, 2024  

A coalition of more than fifty organizations continue to await a response from the provincial government about Ontario’s alarming unregulated drug poisoning fatalities and the forced closure of three supervised consumption sites. In their most recent letter, released today, the coalition is once again calling on the Government of Ontario to immediately support communities desperate for these life-saving services; written communications to Ontario have thus far been met with silence despite the fact that one person in Ontario dies every 2.5 hours due to toxic unregulated drugs. 

More than 21,000 people in Ontario have died from unregulated drug poisoning since the current government was elected in 2018, many of whom did not have a diagnosis for substance use disorder. Applications to the province for funding for community-based supervised consumption services have languished for years in an opaque process that has left site operators and local municipalities frustrated and dangerously under-resourced. The province has frozen all new funding for supervised consumption services across Ontario since 2023, placing the blame on a critical incident that occurred near a Toronto site more than one year ago.  

Today, the coalition again requested emergency funding to re-open sites in Sudbury and Timmins, two areas hard-hit by the drug poisoning crisis. Until March and June of this year, these sites offered witnessed consumption of pre-obtained drugs so that trained staff could respond to overdose emergencies and connect people to health and social supports, including treatment. These closures highlight a significant inequity in care in the North, with a gap in supervised consumption service access spanning over 1,400 kilometers between Thunder Bay and Toronto. The group is also calling for funds to re-open the site in Windsor, which was forced to shut down services in December. 

“The provincial government has stonewalled us,” says Amber Fritz, Manager of Outreach and Education at Réseau Access Network in Sudbury. “We heard months ago from the Opposition that funds were available in the provincial budget to run our supervised consumption site, so this silence is a deliberate, deadly choice. Bureaucracy and stigma have no place in a public health crisis.” 

“It’s evident that our community is in dire need of additional resources to support people who use substances. During the almost two years of having the Safe Health Site Timmins, our community saw a reduction in EMS calls for opioid-related injuries and a significant reduction in opioid-related mortality rates,” says Dr. Julie Samson, physician at Timmins and District Hospital. “We are trained to save lives. If we want to keep people alive during the ongoing and worsening drug poisoning crisis, supervised consumption sites are an essential part of the equation.” 

The Drug Strategy Network of Ontario and numerous other organizations have been calling for on-demand evidence-based addiction treatment for many years, alongside other harm reduction solutions that benefit both people managing addiction and those who consume unregulated drugs episodically. 

Supervised consumption sites offer a space where people who use drugs are treated with acceptance, empathy and respect, which is even more important in an increasingly hostile public and political environment that targets people who use drugs and those who care for them.  

“It is heartbreaking that the Ministry of Health is dragging its feet when so many lives are at stake,” says Christine Nayler, advocate of Ryan’s Hope and Moms Stop the Harm in Barrie, where a supervised consumption site application was withdrawn due to a lack of response and clear timelines from the Government of Ontario. “Harm reduction is healthcare. It is about respect, dignity, and saving lives. Our beloved son Ryan may still be alive today if he had been able to access a supervised consumption site. How can our political leaders ignore our suffering?”  

The coalition’s joint letter urges officials to introduce transparency and expedited timelines in the application process, and immediately scale up and re-open supervised consumption services across the province.  

“This crisis requires a full range of supports to save lives, including harm reduction, withdrawal management and evidence-based, voluntary treatment,” says Nicholas Boyce, policy director with the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition. “We have seen emergency services become overwhelmed due to overdoses and poisonings from the unregulated drug supply. We have seen communities declare states of emergency. We desperately need to get in front of this, and supervised consumption services are a key part of a humane and fiscally responsible response.” 

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Documents and links available: 

• Second Open Letter 

• Open Letter  

• [Recording] March 5 2024 Online Briefing on Open Letter RE: Ontario Supervised Consumption Services with speakers from the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, Pozitive Pathways in Windsor, Reseau ACCESS in Sudbury, Safe Health Site in Timmins and the Drug Strategy Network of Ontario. 

• Safe Health Site Timmins – Summary Reports 

• Reseau Access the Spot – Key Messaging (includes visit data) 

Media Contacts: 

Ryan Do

Social Media Specialist, Canadian Drug Policy Coalition

[email protected]

About the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition:  

Founded in 2010, the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition works in partnership with more than 60 organizations and 7,000 individuals working to support the development of a drug policy for Canada that is based in science, guided by public health principles, respectful of the human rights of all, and seeks to include people who use drugs and those harmed by the war on drugs in moving towards a healthier society. Learn more at www.drugpolicy.ca  

About Moms Stop the Harm    

Moms Stop the Harm challenges laws and policies that cause harm, including those laws that continue to drive the unregulated drug poisoning emergency in Canada. We call for an end to the failed war on drugs through evidence-based prevention, treatment and policy change.  Learn more at www.momsstoptheharm.com  

Ottawa, ON | April 29, 2024 – On the eve of the tenth anniversary of her son Danny’s death from unregulated drugs, Petra Schulz, co-founder of Moms Stop the Harm (MSTH), will testify before the federal Standing Committee on Health (HESA) today on the “Opioid Epidemic and Toxic Drug Crisis.” 

Since MSTH’s founding in 2016, drug toxicity deaths have skyrocketed and show no signs of abating. In a tragic reflection of the human toll of the crisis, MSTH has grown to almost 4,000 members in that time, emerging as a national leader advocating for evidence-based drug policy intervention. Danny Schulz’s story is one of too many painful losses, and an important point of reflection today.  

Moms Stop the Harm urges the federal government to implement a full and equitable spectrum of harm reduction and recovery supports to save lives and give hope to families across the country. The HESA Committee has caught attention and news headlines in previous weeks as elected officials have heard from policy experts, healthcare workers, law enforcement, service providers, and more. MSTH, alongside the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition (CDPC) and the HIV Legal Network, has criticized the Committee’s exclusion of organizations representing people who use drugs, a decision seen as hindering a holistic understanding of the crisis. It is only through the experience and expertise of those with lived experience that we can truly end this lethal crisis.   

“It is so upsetting and infuriating to see the deaths of our loved ones politicized with misinformation and outright lies,” says Schulz, “I urge members of Parliament to stop the angry, harmful and polarizing rhetoric and social media posts, and to listen to people who use drugs when developing drug policy. Like my son, people who use drugs are valuable and loved. I miss Danny every day, and I do this work to prevent families across Canada from feeling this same devastation.”   

MSTH asserts that Canada’s criminal-legal approach to drugs and the significant gaps in available supports and services have created a flawed and dangerous system, driving the mounting death toll. “Tens of thousands of Canadian families are bereft, with empty seats at their tables,” says Schulz. “We are in this terrible situation because of policy choices. I am asking our elected officials to make different choices, choices that will save lives.”   

“We tried everything in our power but, ultimately, the system failed my son,” says Traci Letts, also of Moms Stop the Harm, whose son died in February of this year. “Our loved ones need autonomy and choice in their lives and in their healthcare decisions. We need harm reduction, regulated alternatives to the toxic drug supply, and evidence-based, voluntary, and accountable treatment, as well as significant investment into healthcare, education, food security, and other social determinants of health.”   

“All levels of government need to work together. The HESA study is an opportunity for Members of Parliament to better understand these issues and implement fundamental changes that are desperately needed,” says Nick Boyce of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition.   

“While some governments are moving backwards in their support of progressive drug policy, we need leadership grounded in science, evidence, and compassion to end these needless deaths,” says Sandra Ka Hon Chu of the HIV Legal Network.  

Schulz will testify before the HESA Committee this afternoon. While this Committee is meeting, an estimated 22 people in Canada will die today from the toxic, unregulated drug supply in this country, underscoring the urgent need for sound policy decisions and political courage.  

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Links and Resources:   

• Standing Committee on Health (HESA) study: “Opioid Epidemic and Toxic Drug Crisis” 
• April 28, 2024 3:30-5:30 pm meeting To watch, click “Watch on ParlVu”   

About Moms Stop the Harm   

Moms Stop the Harm challenges laws and policies that cause harm, including those laws that continue to drive the unregulated drug poisoning emergency in Canada. We call for an end to the failed war on drugs through evidence-based prevention, treatment and policy change.  

About the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition  

About the HIV Legal Network  

  

Media Contact:  

Jessica Hannon   

[email protected]  

Ontario, Canada | March 5, 2024 — Fifty-one community groups from across Ontario are calling on the provincial government to immediately fund and support supervised consumption services amidst the worsening toxic drug crisis. In an open letter released this morning, the coalition called for eight urgent actions, including direct emergency funding, with a deadline of March 29. Citing recent and imminent closures of sites in Windsor, Sudbury, and Timmins, the group demanded swift intervention to prevent further deaths. 

In Ontario, seven to 10 people are killed every day by toxic unregulated drugs. An estimated 3,644 people lost their lives in 2023 alone. Supervised consumption services are a proven health intervention where trained staff can respond to overdoses, offering supports and connections to health and social services. Evidence consistently shows the sites save lives and significantly reduce emergency calls and hospital visits. 

Last fall, the Province of Ontario put all supervised consumption services funding applications on indefinite hold pending a lengthy review period, adding to the already years-long wait for some jurisdictions. The decision came after a bystander was tragically killed by an incident of gun violence in the vicinity of a Toronto site last summer. Results of the review are expected this month, but come too late for those who have died of drug poisonings in the interim. 

Citing the province’s pause, an application in Hamilton was withdrawn in October 2023. In Sault Ste Marie, a site application is instead being directed to the federal government. Windsor’s only site shut its doors at the end of December. Without provincial funding, sites in Sudbury and Timmins will close at the end of this month. 

The open letter highlights how these funding delays have impacted communities already reeling from the effects of the toxic drug crisis.  

“We want to ensure that people who use substances continue to have self-determination over their health outcomes,” says Michael Brennan of Pozitive Pathways in Windsor. “And that, just like anyone else, they have the tools, resources and support available without barriers.” 

The first supervised consumption sites in Ontario opened in 2017. Within months, 20 sites were operating throughout the province. In June 2018, the current provincial government was elected. Since then, the unregulated drug supply has become increasingly volatile and dangerous. “Instead of scaling up sites, the current government added layers of bureaucracy, put an arbitrary cap of 21 sites across the entire province, and has delayed and impeded approval and funding of new sites,” says Nick Boyce of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition. “Some applications have sat waiting for over two years, while people are dying.” 

There are currently only 17 provincially-funded supervised consumption sites in Ontario. There is just one site in northern Ontario, which has among the highest drug-related death rates in the country. Data indicates Timmins and Sudbury have an opioid toxicity mortality rate nearly three times the provincial average. 

Some sites, including Windsor, Timmins and Sudbury, have had to temporarily rely on municipal funding and public donations to operate. “This is a health issue. These sites should be funded by the Ministry of Health,” says Dr. Julie Samson of Timmins and District Hospital. “Why are municipalities, local health boards, and even the caring public having to step in to do the province’s job?”  

“With overdose alerts across Ontario, state of emergency declarations from several municipalities and hundreds of needless prevented deaths and injuries each month, we encourage elected officials to prioritize the safety of residents by expediting outstanding requests and eliminating the political red-tape blocking consumption services,” says Michael Parkinson of the Drug Strategy Network of Ontario. 

Local organizations worry the decision will lead to more deaths and set back efforts to connect people to supports.   

“In the 16 months that The Spot has been open, we have seen the incredible impact it has had on those who access the service,” says Amber Fritz, Manager of Supervised Consumption Services at Réseau ACCESS Network in Sudbury. “It is a place of safety, self-determination, community and support. The drug poisoning crisis has shown no sign of abating; drugs have become more toxic, volatile and deadly. Members of our communities deserve better. Using drugs should not be a death sentence.” 

“The Safe Health Site Timmins is saving lives, reducing demand on emergency services and actively connecting people with withdrawal management and treatment services,” says Samson. “The risks associated with closing of this site are significant and have the potential to negatively impact our entire community.” 

Safe Health Site Timmins has directly contributed to the dramatic reduction of opioid-related fatalities in our community,” says Timmins Mayor Michelle Boileau. “Quite simply, it saves lives. Northern Ontario suffers from higher rates of hospitalization, overdose and death from opioid use compared to communities in the south. These sites give us a fighting chance to mitigate the negative effects caused by drug use. We need immediate and sustainable funding for Safe Health Site Timmins. It is imperative to the continued safety and well-being of our community.” 

 The letter calls for the elimination of unnecessary barriers and the immediate provision of sustained provincial funding for supervised consumption sites, including inhalation services, to meet the urgent needs of communities. The coalition emphasizes that these demands require immediate action from the provincial government to prevent further loss of life and harm to communities across Ontario. 

“Our community has been fighting for a supervised consumption site since 2019,” says Reverend Christine Nayler of Ryan’s Hope in Barrie. “In the five years since our fight for this life-saving site began my son Ryan and my nephew Josh both lost their lives to toxic drugs, along with over 215 other community members. If those in power, whose desk these applications sit on, were the ones who had to deliver the heartbreaking news to the families left behind or if they had to attend each funeral, I don’t think they would still be stalling. These are not numbers; these were our children, our siblings, our nieces and nephews, neighbours and friends.” 

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Documents and links available: 

• Open Letter 
• Recording of Online Briefing will be available this afternoon at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeEOlqVBeDx8g0BinFA2EWw  

Media Contacts: 

• Jessica Hannon for the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition
  • [email protected]  

At time of publication on March 6, 2024, the following organizations have sent the open letter: 

DJ Larkin, Executive Director, Canadian Drug Policy Coalition 

Heidi Eisenhauer, Executive Director, Réseau ACCESS Network 

Janet Butler-McPhee & Sandra Ka Hon Chu, Co-Executive Directors, HIV Legal Network 
Dr. Julie Samson, MD, CCFP (EM), Co-lead Addiction Medicine Consult Team, Timmins and District Hospital  
Michael Brennan, Executive Director, Pozitive Pathways Community Service 

Michael Parkinson, Coordinator, Drug Strategy Network of Ontario 

And the following organizations have endorsed the open letter: 

Adrian R. Betts, Executive Director, AIDS Committee of Durham Region (ACDR) 

Alyssa Wright, Co-Lead, Supervised Consumption Saves Lives – Barrie 

Andrea Sereda, Dr., London Intercommunity Health Centre 

Avery, PFAC Member, WEOHT 

Brooke Rorseth, Crisis Worker (MSW, RSW), Hotel Dieu Grace Healthcare 

Dane Record, Executive Director, PARN 

Denise Baldwin, Administrator, Indigenous Harm Reduction Network 

Dr. Dan Werb, Executive Director, Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation 

Dr. Doris Grinspun, RN, BScN, MSN, PhD, LLD(hon), Dr(hc), DHC, DHC, FAAN, FCAN, O.ONT., Chief Executive Officer, Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO) 

Eric Cashmore, Executive Director, The Seeking Help Project 

Farihah Ali, Manager and Scientific Lead, Ontario CRISM Node 

Heather Johnson-Dobransky, Director of Operations, Hiatus House 

Holly Gauvin, Executive Director, Elevate NWO 

Jackie Barrett-Greene, Director, Positive Living Niagara 

Jason Sereda, President, Board of Directors, DIY Community Health Timmins 

John Maxwell, Executive Director, ACT 

Julie Nobert-DeMarchi, Executive Director, Timmins & Area Women in Crisis 

Karla Ghartey, Member; Assistant Professor, Sudbury Temporary Overdose Prevention Society; Nipissing University 

Kate Fairbairn, Patient, Family & Caregiver- Partnership Council, Windsor Essex Ontario Health Care team 

Khaled Salam, Executive Director, AIDS Committee of Ottawa 

Lindsay Jennings, Reintegration Specialist, Incarcerated Voters of Ontario 

Lisa Toner, Team Lead, Ontario Aboriginal HIV/AIDS Strategy 

Liv Delair, Co-Chair, Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy 

Luciano Carlone, Interim CEO, Canadian Mental Heath Association, Windsor Essex County Branch 

Marie Morton, Executive Director, CAYR Community Connections 

Meghan Young, Executive Director, Ontario Aboriginal HIV/AIDS Strategy (OAhas) 

Mike Murphy, Addiction Medicine Physician, NOSM U 

Mika Wee, Steering Committee Member, Shelter & Housing Justice Network 

Mona Loutfy, Maple Leaf Medical Clinic 

Michelle Boileau, Mayor, City of Timmins 

Nadine Sookermany, Executive Director, Fife House 

Olivia Mancini, Registered Social Worker / Co-Founder, Student Overdose Prevention and Education Network 

Patty MacDonald, Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Mental Health Association – Sudbury/Manitoulin 

Rebecca Robinson, Violence Against Women’s Services Coordinator, Sudbury and Area Victim Services 

Reverend Christine Nayler, Co-founder/ Director, Ryan’s Hope 

Rita Taillefer, Executive Director, Windsor Essex Community Health Centre 

Ruth Cameron, Executive Director, ACCKWA 

Ruth Fox, Regional Director, Ontario, Moms Stop the Harm 

Seamus Murphy, Deputy Chief of Standards and Community Services, Cochrane District Paramedic Service 

Shelley Muldoon, Director, Mental Health and Addictions, Woodstock Hospital 

Suzanne Paddock, Executive Director, Toronto People With AIDS Foundation 

Thierry Croussette, Board President, Seizure and Brain Injury Centre 

Tiffany Pyoli York, Co-Chair, Greater Sudbury Anti Human Trafficking Coalition 

Toronto Overdose Prevention Society 

Victoria Scott, Director, Engage Barrie Organization