Pubdate: Wed, 30 Nov 2016
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2016 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Jennifer Pagliaro
Page: GT1

CITY SEEKS APPROVAL FOR INJECTION SITES

Queen's Park silent as Toronto moves to table proposal to feds

The city and two local health providers will formally request federal
permission on Wednesday to operate three supervised injection services
in Toronto.

Toronto would be the first Ontario city and third Canadian city to
have supervised injection sites - something considered to be a huge
triumph for advocates.

It could also pave the way for other municipalities to open sites amid
an overdose crisis in Canada.

But as the city moves to submit applications to the federal
government, which will be announced Wednesday, the province has been
silent on its willingness to fund the program.

"The sooner these sites open the more lives will be saved and the more
people we can move into treatment at the same time," Councillor Joe
Cressy said.

Cressy chairs the city's drug strategy implementation panel and is
leading the push at city hall for approval of the sites.

"We've reached a tipping point in our country over the last two years
and in our province, where supervised injection services are
increasingly seen as a necessary solution to a problem we're facing."

Overdose deaths in Toronto increased by 77 per cent between 2004 and
2014, from 146 in 2004 to 258 in 2014 - an all-time high.

In a 36-3 vote in July, council overwhelming approved introducing
three sites in the Queen West, Leslieville and Yonge-Dundas
neighbourhoods.

That decision was largely backed by the public after consultations and
Mayor John Tory, who called approving supervised injection sites the
"moral thing to do."

It followed a push by the former medical officer of health David
McKeown, who recommended the sites as an evidence-based way to reduce
overdose deaths while benefitting local communities that see the
effects of public needle use.

The sites would be located within three established centres: the
Toronto Public Health-operated The Works, the Queen West Central
Toronto Community Health Centre on Bathurst St. and the South
Riverdale Community Health Centre near Carlaw Ave.

Approving the sites would allow anyone to bring in their own illegal
drugs and inject them in a private booth under the supervision of a
nurse, who can monitor for signs of disease and overdose.

Under controversial legislation introduced under former prime minister
Stephen Harper, the city and health providers must go through an
onerous application process with the federal government for exemption
under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to operate the sites.

Health Minister Jane Philpott has publicly supported supervised
injection sites as a harm reduction strategy and has said the
government will work with municipalities who want and need the sites.

"I want them to be made available because I know that they save
lives," she told The Canadian Press this month.

Submitting an application is a critical next step, Dr. Rita Shahin
said, the city's associate medical officer of health. She said the
city expects a "fairly quick and favourable" response from the federal
government.

The sites applying for exemption, she said, are in neighbourhoods
where the majority of drug use is already taking place in the city.

The other important piece is funding, which the city requested of the
province in August. It's estimated to cost $1.8 million in annual
operating costs for the three sites, as well as $350,000 in onetime
renovation costs.

Shahin said the city has yet to receive a response from the
province.

"I'm hoping that we'll be able to open in 2017 if we get the funding,"
she said.

Cressy said the investment in supervised injection "will have a huge
impact on the lives of Torontonians and reducing health care costs
overall for our city."

Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins said in an emailed statement he
supports "any discussion around making our communities safer" and that
supervised injection sites "can be part of the solution."

Adding the province looks forward to working with the city and the
federal government, he did not answer a question about whether they
would be willing to fund the program.
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MAP posted-by: Matt