Community organizations from across the province are sounding the alarm on what they’re calling the provincial government's inaction amidst the toxic, unregulated drug crisis.
An online briefing Tuesday hosted by the Drug Strategy Network of Ontario received an overwhelming response, according to organizers, who noted nearly 500 people registered for the event in just a couple of days.
“It’s clear people in Ontario care deeply about this issue. Right now, there’s an opportunity for all levels of government to urgently get on side and take action,” said Nick Boyce, senior policy analyst with the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition.
The toxic drug crisis has been building across the country for a decade, he noted, adding 40,000 Canadians have died as a result in the last eight years. In Ontario, seven to 10 people are killed every day by toxic, unregulated drugs and it's proving to be a massive strain on emergency services and hospitals, Boyce said.
In Ontario, an estimated 3,664 people were killed by toxic drugs in 2023.
Despite what advocates say are the proven effectiveness of supervised consumption sites (SCS) in saving lives, they say the Ontario government has dragged its heels for over two years in some cases — including efforts to bring such a facility to Barrie, which began in January 2018.
The application for funding and approval of the Barrie site, located at 11 Innisfil St., was put forward more than two years ago. Two separate applications were submitted, one to Health Canada at the federal level and one to the Ministry of Health at the provincial level on Oct. 7, 2021, with the Canadian Mental Health Association's Simcoe County branch as the lead applicant.
“Unfortunately, the federal government has not been bold enough in its actions, while some provincial governments have not supported the initiatives and policy changes needed to end the crisis,” Boyce said. “Despite the proven effectiveness of supervised consumption sites, the Ontario government has delayed and impeded the approval and funding of sites under their Consumption and Treatment Services (CTS) model.”
An SCS/CTS provides a safe space and sterile equipment for people to use pre-obtained drugs under the supervision of health-care staff. Consumption means taking opioids and other drugs by injection, smoking, snorting or orally.
The Barrie proposal was endorsed by the previous city council in June 2021 and also has federal approval to operate. A Controlled Drugs and Substances Act exemption from Health Canada allows facility staff the ability to test and handle drugs without any criminal sanctions.
What it lacks, though, is provincial approval. It is provincial dollars which must fund operating costs for Barrie’s SCS facility, pay for its staff, equipment and maintenance.
'Evidence is clear'
Meanwhile, without immediate provincial support, SCS facilities in Timmins and Sudbury will close at the end of March, while one in Windsor has already been shuttered.
“The evidence is clear. Supervised consumption sites stop deaths, reduce costs and strains on emergency services and hospitals and increase connections to health and social supports, including treatment,” Boyce said.
The first sites opened in the fall of 2017, he said. Since the Ford government was first elected in June 2018, the unregulated drug supply has become “increasingly volatile."
“Instead of scaling up sites, the government has added a layer of red tape to the application and reporting process, put an arbitrary cap of 21 sites across the entire province, and is currently only funding 17 sites … with only one in northern Ontario where they have some of the highest death rates in the country," Boyce added.
Other sites have had to rely on temporary municipal funding and donations, he noted, despite it being a provincial jurisdiction.
“People will continue to die and communities will needlessly suffer if the Ontario government does not take accountability right now," he said.
On March 4, a coalition of 51 community groups endorsed a letter to the provincial government demanding eight urgent actions, but which includes demands of immediate emergency funding prior to March 29 to sites that have submitted their applications and are in imminent threat of closures — or have closed — due to lack of funding.
On Oct. 4, 2023, the Ontario Associate Minister for Mental Health and Addictions announced the province had paused approving new CTS sites while a review of all current facilites is underway.
“The coroner's fatality data reminds all of us of the opportunities to act on behalf of the dead (and) to protect the living, whether they’re recreational consumers or are self-managing withdrawal or pain via unregulated, untaxed and toxic drug markets favoured by successive governments since 1908,” said Michael Parkinson, co-ordinator with the Drug Strategy Network of Ontario.
Parkinson says Ontario’s drug-poisoning situation meets the definition of a “raging public health emergency."
“In the absence of deploying an emergency response, thousands of preventable deaths and injuries will occur this year," he said. "It’s not a matter of if communities are overwhelmed. We are — and not just recently."
Several municipalities and band councils have declared states of emergencies, said Parkinson, and many others are in a constant state of issuing overdose alerts.
SCS facilities are among the immediate life-saving opportunities available, he added, and are not only grounded in evidence, but also desperately wanted and needed by many communities.
“At their core, the service is about a small room with a table, a chair and a pair of eyes able to respond to a life-threatening emergency," said Parkinson.
That’s not the complicated part, however, noted Parkinson, adding the more difficult aspect is the “expensive, arbitrary and onerous approval process marred in provincial red tape that obstructs, dissuades and divides communities."
Parkinson says having seen first hand the benefits SCS/CTS locations offer should not be as challenging to establish and maintain.
“The Drug Strategy Network of Ontario strongly encourages the province to immediately seize the opportunity to expedite existing CTS applications, provide operation funding for non-CTS consumption sites, end the band on accommodating inhalation — the leading modality suspected at the time of death — and redesign the approvals process to one that helps not hinders public health and safety across Ontario," he said.
When asked what they believe this pause could mean for the proposed SCS in Barrie, Boyce admitted they aren't sure.
“They submitted their application 28 months ago … we don’t know how much longer it takes to process an application,” he said. “All I know is that in June 2017, I think we had 20 sites up and running across the province that were funded provincially and we are down to 17 now and not one new site has opened in the last six years.”
Although she was unable to take part in Tuesday’s forum due to technical difficulties, Lynne Cheliak, director of quality, risk and corporate performance with CMHA's Simcoe County branch, said the organization acknowledges the “critical importance and urgency” of a funding decision by the health minister for the local CTS application, especially in light of the concerning rise in opioid-related deaths and drug poisonings in Barrie.
In a statement provided to BarrieToday, Cheliak said the local CMHA branch and the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit have "continually and collaboratively advocated" to the minister of health to "expedite this process and ensure that vital resources reach those in need."
“Our top priority remains the well-being and safety of our community members, and we are committed to addressing this issue with urgency and diligence," she added.
For more information on Consumption and Treatment Services, click here.
