Allowing people to smoke drugs at supervised consumption sites was once on a shortlist of internal recommendations to overhaul the system before Ontario decided to shutter some locations and ban new ones altogether.
New documents obtained by Global News using freedom of information laws show allowing supervised inhalation was one of three recommendations collated by the Ministry of Health after a complete review of the supervised consumption site program last year.
The review was triggered by a fatal shooting beside a supervised consumption site in Toronto. Both the supervisor put in charge of the site where the shooting took place and a broader review from Unity Health recommended people be allowed to smoke drugs at the locations.
The move, the government was told, could save lives.
“The data from the Office of the Chief Coroner shows a significant increase in opioid deaths related to inhalation, whereas deaths related to injection have declined,” one line of a Ministry of Health presentation seen by Global News explained.
The two reports were made public in August 2024 but the new documents show Ontario, at least at one point, shortlisted three changes:
- Implementing new procedures at supervised consumption sites
- Adding 200-metre buffer zones for new sites near schools
- Allowing inhalation at supervised consumption sites
A list of recommendations related to supervised consumption sites compiled by the Ministry of Health in April 2024.
Global News
The Ford government, ultimately, went in a different direction.
In August 2024, Health Minister Sylvia Jones announced all sites within 200 metres of a school or child-care centre would be shut down and new applications would effectively be banned. Ontario is replacing supervised consumption sites with intensive addiction recovery hubs.
While the move was presented internally on what appears to be a shortlist, that does not mean the minister herself or the political wing of the government ever considered it.
In response to questions from Global News, the Ministry of Health highlighted the policy it landed on was designed to ban drug use — including inhalation.
“We recognize Ontarians deserve more than a health care system that is focused on providing people struggling with addiction with tools to use illegal drugs,” the government said in a statement.
Shooting near a supervised consumption site
The issue of supervised consumption sites rose to prominence across Ontario in the summer of 2023 when an innocent bystander was killed near one of the sites.
Karolina Huebner-Makurat was walking the South Riverdale Health Centre — where a supervised consumption site was housed — when she was struck by a bullet and killed after a fight near a supervised consumption site in the area between two alleged drug dealers.
The province was quick to move in — implementing a province-wide review of the supervised consumption site program, asking Unity Health to review the Riverdale site and appointing Jill Campbell, a former mental health executive, as supervisor.
The reports were finished by early 2024 and went to the Ministry of Health for consideration.
An internal presentation, dated April 12, 2024, showed the government had sifted through a slew of recommendations included in those reports and settled on three it planned in advance.
Supervised inhalation
Among the three recommendations was the suggestion Ontario should allow supervised inhalation.
The move could have saved lives, the presentation said, because of a move away from injecting illegal drugs and towards smoking them.
“In five years, the mode of consumption most associated with deaths has shifted from injection to inhalation,” the presentation said. “The proportion of deaths attributed to inhalation has risen steadily since 2018.”
It went on to point out that when supervised consumption sites were first introduced, more people died from injecting drugs. Since the sites were added, deaths from injection have dropped and inhalation increased dramatically.
As Global News previously reported, the government’s assessments of the legislation it ultimately tabled to close supervised consumption sites warned of increased deaths and hospitalizations.
“There is a high risk that reducing access to harm reduction and overdose support services will result in increased emergency department visits, health impacts, overdose and death,” the confidential document, obtained in November, read.
The number of deaths from people inhaling drugs has steadily increased in Ontario.
Global News
Allowing people to smoke inside supervised consumption sites would also have reduced visible public drug use, the government presentation said.
“It is well documented by local PHUs and police, that a key contributor to public drug use around CTS sites is inhalation,” another line read.
Bill Sinclair, the CEO of the Neighbourhood Group Community Services, which runs a supervised consumption site in Toronto, said supervised inhalation would be an important addition to sites.
“It’s a great recommendation and I highly support it — I think all the sites should have that option, have that availability,” he said. “It would bring inside all the things that we’re talking about needing to have inside, under supervision, under care and in more privacy too.”
School buffer zone recommendation
The government also planned to introduce a “buffer zone” between new supervised consumption sites and any kind of school.
“Although the review did not identify this as an issue, establishing a school buffer zone requirement for new CTS applications could promote public and parent confidence in safety measures around schools,” the Ministry of Health presentation said.
That recommendation — it appears — evolved into the decision the government ultimately announced in August 2024, when it said it would close all sites within 200 metres of schools or child care facilities.
“We have heard from experts, and municipalities and seen real-world examples in other jurisdictions, decriminalization does not work,” the Ministry of Health said in a statement.
“Instead, it encourages dangerous behavior in public spaces, victimizes innocent people, undermines law enforcement’s ability to protect our communities, and does not break the cycle of addiction.”
The 10 supervised consumption sites within 200 metres of a school or child care will close in Ontario on March 31.