On December 4, the Government of Ontario passed the Safer Streets Stronger Communities Act, legislation that will permanently close vital supervised consumption services in communities across Ontario. At the same time, the government is removing critical harm reduction tools from its new model of care that help save lives, keep used needles off our streets, and allow people to access mental health and addictions services.
The Alliance for Healthier Communities and our primary health care members are disappointed with this policy direction. Health care experts and Ontario’s Auditor General agree: this approach will lead to increased loss of life. According to the Ontario Ministry of Health’s own analysis, the government’s new policy will lead to: significantly increased overdose deaths and hospitalizations, more discarded needles in community spaces, increased public drug use, increased emergency department usage, and increased overall pressure on our health system and emergency services.
There is no question more must be done in Ontario to combat the escalating drug crisis and its impacts on people and communities. We are eager to work with Premier Ford, Minister Jones and other leaders in the government to improve the lives of Ontarians battling mental illness and addiction. But for our collective work to be successful and truly transformational, Ontarians must have access to more services, including harm reduction tools.
The government’s proposed Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hub model holds promise to help address the crisis. However, this model must include the full continuum of addiction services, including harm reduction, supervised consumption services, and street outreach, in order to succeed in its goals of saving lives and improving community safety. The Alliance calls on the government to increase the number of Hubs offered in the new program and expand the services offered within them.
To meet the scale of Ontario’s toxic drug crisis, we cannot cut off proven, evidence-based approaches and tools. If we do so, we are setting them up to fail. It is not too late for the government to take a compassionate, practical approach to help Ontarians battling addiction, and to succeed where others have failed. Ontarians’ lives and communities are depending on it.