Star’s view: Make opioid crisis a priority,

Last August, volunteer harm reduction workers in Toronto set out to do what the politicians said couldn’t be done for months. They set up a supervised injection site in downtown Moss Park in response to the city’s mounting overdose crisis.

By taking matters into their own hands, they not only saved lives (they’ve reversed more than 200 overdoses at last count) but they spurred all levels of government to act on the opioid epidemic.

In fact, the latest figures suggest that opioid overdoses claimed the lives of more than 4,000 Canadians last year. And Toronto has not escaped unscathed. In the 10 months from January to October 2017 there were 263 opioid overdose deaths in the city, sharply up from 186 in all of 2016. Compare that to the SARS epidemic of 2003, which killed 44.

This is a fast-growing crisis and it should be high on the list of issues debated by Ontario’s party leaders in the current election campaign. So far, though, it’s not getting the attention it deserves even though it will be among the most difficult problems to be faced by the next government, no matter who wins.

The Liberals can at least claim to have taken the problem seriously while in office. Long before the campaign, the Wynne government took significant steps. It committed more than $222 million over three years to fight the overdose crisis, established an Opioid Emergency Task Force to co-ordinate the province’s response, distributed free naloxone kits to police and fire departments, and got an exemption for temporary overdose prevention centres from Ottawa to make sure staff working at pop-up sites, such as Moss Park, would not be prosecuted.

The government stopped short, though, of declaring the opioid crisis an official emergency.

The New Democrats promise to stay on the harm-reduction course blazed by the Liberals. Importantly, they promise to set up a dedicated ministry to deal with mental health and addictions, an approach similar to that taken by the NDP government in British Columbia, where the crisis is even more severe.

The outlier in all this is Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford. He outright admits he does not have a plan to deal with the crisis. Further, before the campaign even got underway he declared that he’s “dead against” supervised injection sites and would close down the ones set up under the Liberals.

Why? Because he believes the focus should be on drug rehabilitation. “I believe in supporting people, getting them help,” he said.

A fine sentiment, but all available evidence suggests Ford’s approach would be a disaster in the fight against street addiction and the opioid epidemic.

Study after study has shown that supervised injection sites reduce the risk of overdose and needle-transmitted disease — and increase the likelihood that users will get the rehabilitative help they need. The simple truth is that in order to benefit from rehab programs users must first of all be kept alive.

Ford’s approach would be particularly harmful, but all three major parties are ducking a key part of the issue. None is addressing decriminalization of drug possession, called for by addiction experts around the world. Though that would be a federal responsibility, the next provincial government should be prepared to push Ottawa to act on it.

As Toronto’s medical officer of health, Dr. Eileen de Villa, wrote in a letter to the Star last week: “The current criminalization of people who take drugs is contributing to this (opioid) crisis because it forces people into unsafe drug use practices and creates barriers to seeking help.”

The next government will have to take this epidemic more seriously. The leaders should be making that a priority.

When activists opened an injection site in a tent in Moss Park, they focused much-needed attention on the opioid overdose epidemic