TORONTO – More than 100 health groups have sent an open letter to Doug Ford and Ontario’s health minister asking them to reconsider the province’s position on overdose prevention sites.
The Progressive Conservative government recently paused the planned openings of several overdose prevention sites as it conducts a review to determine if such facilities will continue to operate.
The letter calls the provincial review unnecessary and says all available evidence demonstrates that such sites save lives.
It also urges the government to work with community organizations and other health-service providers to increase the number of such facilities.
Nicholas Caivano, a policy analyst with the Canadian HIV AIDS Legal Network, which spearheaded the letter, says the provincial review will impose delays that could result in preventable overdose deaths and new infections of HIV, hepatitis C and other illnesses.
A spokeswoman for the health minister says the province is conducting an evidence-based review and is listening to experts, community leaders and community members in the process.
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