Toronto to see more emergency calls after supervised consumption sites close: top doc

A view of the Safe Injection Room in the Moss Park Consumption and Treatment Service in Toronto on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

TORONTO — Overdoses will increase and first responders will see more emergency calls after new provincial laws shutter five supervised drug consumption sites in Toronto this spring, the city’s acting medical officer of health said in a report tabled Monday.

Dr. Na-Koshie Lamptey recommended that the city’s board of health urge the province to expand access to supervised consumption sites that comply with the new rules, including at existing locations that are expected to continue operating.

“These facilities save lives, connect people to social services and are pathways to treatment,” Lamptey wrote in a report tabled with the board of health.

“The new legislation will reduce access to an evidence-based clinical health care service leading to an anticipated increase in preventable fatal and non-fatal overdoses.”

In addition to shutting down 10 supervised consumption sites across Ontario due to their proximity to schools and daycares, Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government has banned new sites from opening altogether.

The province is moving away from harm reduction to an abstinence-based model as it launches 19 new “homelessness and addiction recovery treatment hubs” — or HART hubs, as the province calls them — plus 375 highly supportive housing units at a planned cost of $378 million.

Lamptey has also recommended that the new hubs allow needle exchange programs, and asked that the province release its plans to mitigate health system impacts.

But the Ontario government said it is forging ahead with its planned restrictions, citing safety concerns raised by families near the sites as the driving force in its decision.

“HART Hubs, similar to existing hub models in Ontario that have successfully provided people with care, will reflect regional priorities by connecting people to more comprehensive care than the support services previously offered at drug injection sites,” said Ema Popovic, spokeswoman for Health Minister Sylvia Jones.

“These enhanced services include primary care, addiction care, support, supportive housing and other social services.”

Drug overdoses have escalated quickly since illicit fentanyl took hold in Ontario around 2015. Deaths increased significantly during the pandemic. More than 2,600 people died from opioids in 2023, the latest year of data available, and 528 of those deaths occurred in Toronto.

That same year, Toronto Paramedic Services attended 2,802 calls for suspected opioid overdoses, the report said. There were nearly 3,000 emergency department visits and 456 hospitalizations due to opioids in 2023, the report said.

“With the anticipated reduction in supervised consumption services, there is a significant risk of increased overdose deaths,” Lamptey wrote. “This is because the alternative to supervised consumption is for people to use drugs alone, in non-health care settings, and in potentially unsafe environments.”

Toronto paramedics are bracing for an increase in calls after March 31, when the five sites are slated to close.

“Toronto Paramedic Services expects an increase in overdose-related calls, greater demand for naloxone administration, and more frequent hospital transports,” Lamptey wrote.

“Additionally, it is possible that Toronto Paramedic Services may see an increased demand for non-emergent community-based health care, naloxone distribution, and public education due to the reduced availability of safe consumption services and supplies.”

Paramedics have been busy with the rise of the opioid epidemic.

The service has experienced a 54 per cent increase in calls for drug toxicity, largely driven by opioid overdoses, the report said.

Toronto fire services and police are also monitoring the situation, although neither can predict the closures' impact on their services yet.

But police say they will continue with their naloxone program, which sees every front-line officer trained in using the overdose-reversing medication.

Toronto police are “committed to ensuring that mental health and substance use related issues continue to be addressed as health issues, while enforcement efforts focus on reducing the supply of toxic drugs,” the report said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 20, 2025.