Health Minister Elliott says government will spend $31M a year on up to 21 sites

TORONTO — A review of Ontario’s overdose-prevention sites has found they help reduce drugrelated deaths and lower the rate of public drug use, Health Minister Christine Elliott said Monday as she announced plans to enhance the program previously criticized by Premier Doug Ford.

Elliott said the Progressive Conservative government will spend just over $31 million a year to fund a maximum of 21 sites, which in addition to overdose prevention will offer drug users treatment and rehabilitation services.

“The evidence clearly demonstrated that these sites were necessary,” she told a news conference.

The existing overdose-prevention sites, originally launched by the previous Liberal government, can apply to continue to operate under the new model planned by the government, which will now be called “Consumption and Treatment” services sites, Elliott said.

“We felt the previous government took some of the steps but really didn’t have that focus on rehabilitation and treatment that we think is necessary for people to be able to get the help that they need,” she said.

“It’s one thing to save lives through overdose prevention, that is very important. But it’s also really important to make sure that people can connect with the services they need.”

During the spring election campaign, Ford said he was opposed to safe-injection and overdose-prevention sites.

The Tory government paused the planned openings of three overdose-prevention sites this summer until it conducted the review, a move that drew strong criticism from harm-prevention workers and many in the medical community.

Elliott said those sites in Thunder Bay, St. Catharines and Toronto, will now be allowed to open.

She acknowledged that Ford’s views were well known but said after she presented the findings of her review to the premier they agreed the services were important.

“The premier always indicated he wanted a evidence-based review to be done to ensure that we were making the right decision,” she said.

“We did present that evidence and the premier and I went through it in detail and we came to the same conclusions.”

Gillian Kolla, of the Toronto Overdose Prevention Society, said the minister has listened to the experts and called the continuation of the program positive.

But capping the number of sites in the province to just 21 is a problem, she said.

“We’re in the middle of a very large public health crisis,” Kolla said.

Kolla said capping the sites will just limit the government’s ability to respond to a problem in the future.

“This is a crisis that is very, very complex,” she said.