Ontario calls on Toronto to drop drug decriminalization request

The Ontario government worries decriminalizing drugs in Toronto will make public spaces unsafe. We don't want more drugs in our parks. We don't want more drugs in our streets. The Solicitor General is one of two ministers who wrote to Toronto's medical officer of Health two years ago. She asked the federal government for an exemption to decriminalize. Ontario is 100% opposed to your proposal, the letter reads. Under no circumstances will our government ever support your request, and they say they're surprised the exemption request hasn't been rescinded yet. It is a little unusual to receive a letter as a public servant directly from elected officials. The medical officer says her request is about trying to save lives, with the most recent number showing more than 500 people in a year died due to overdose. And she says this ask came from the Board of Health as a whole. Any change to that will require the consideration of the Board of Health. It's not a simple decision that any one person, myself included, can take on their own. The board's application to allow people to carry a small amount of drugs for personal use says criminalizing drug possession only makes it harder for drug users to get support. The proposal calls for decriminalization to be paired with a host of more direct public health responses, including scaled up harm reduction and mental health services. This is all coming as decriminalization in BC was amended, a pilot project no longer allowing drug use in public spaces. And since then the Ford government has already come out strongly against the plan to decriminalize here. This is known as the Made in Toronto solution. I think it's more like the Made in Toronto disaster waiting to happen. The province's solution is treatment programs. Citing A10 year multibillion dollar commitment, the Toronto's mayor quoted a survey by the Board of Health. One out of three people that are homeless that are addicted said they will go into a treatment program if it is available and damn, it is not available. The province's letter also mentions consumption sites and adding extra accountability measures to existing locations. It said it's been reviewing the sites since a shooting outside one of them last summer. The thing that's kind of concerning is talking about safe consumption sites and not and concerned that they're not recognizing that that is a path to treatment. A spokesperson for the health minister says they're ensuring the sites are living up to their requirements and they'll have more details in a few weeks. Lorenda, Braddock, OPS, CBC News, Toronto.