WELLINGTON COUNTY – The Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy took to social media this week, joining others in a provincial call for action.
Supervised Consumption Services are lifesaving health services that are available in communities across Ontario – some of these sites are currently at risk of closure.
To learn more, please read the open letter and to review the calls to action here: https://t.co/YpaDPMrWCD pic.twitter.com/G0QlH47o8G
— Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy (@WGDrugStrategy) March 6, 2024
The letter requests the Ontario government immediately provides direct emergency funding on or before the 29th of March to supervised consumption services seeking additional dollars.
Written on behalf of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, it says these sites, and particularly low-barrier overdose prevention sites, are a necessary emergency response to this crisis and must be immediately scaled up.
The letter says there are at least five submitted applications for Consumption and Treatment Services sites that have been delayed by the government, including in Windsor, Sudbury, and Barrie- where the wait is up to 29 months.
The coalition goes on to explain the government capped funding to 21 Consumption and Treatment Services locations.
Six years later, they are vouching for “urgent” action.
They have eight regulations they’d like to see phased in, including a low-barrier process by which community organizations can seek provincial funding for safe consumption sites.
You can find the letter in its entirety, here.
