Closure of school-adjacent drug sites didn't come soon enough: MP

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OTTAWA — While opposition parties decry Ontario’s new rules banning supervised drug consumption sites near schools or daycares, one Toronto-area MP said the move’s been a long time coming.

Spadina-Fort York MP Kevin Vuong, who often speaks out out against Toronto’s escalating epidemic of drug-related violence and disorder, told the Toronto Sun he welcomes the move.

“A drug injection site should never have been placed by the elementary school in the first place,” Vuong said.

“My community is relieved and grateful to Premier Ford for taking action, instead of ignoring them or, worse, gaslighting them as the NDP have been doing for years.”

On Tuesday, Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones announced new rules banning supervised consumption sites within 200 metres of schools or daycares.

That means nine provincially-funded consumption sites — including five in Toronto — will soon close, all either within or in close proximity to Vuong’s downtown Toronto riding.

“I have heard from mothers who feel the need to act as bodyguards to escort their children to school,” Vuong said.

“I have heard from parents who had to deal with someone injecting heroin at the church directly across the street from the elementary school.”

In a news release, the Ontario NDP expressed shock and dismay over the decision.

“Not a single community in our province is asking the government to take away existing resources and programs,” said NDP Health Critic France Gelinas.

“This government is cynically attacking health infrastructure, putting ideology over evidence. It’s time to fund the treatments and support programs we need so we can stop the loss of life.”

Vuong said he hears from constituents regularly reporting negative and often criminal interactions around these consumption sites, or finding discarded needles on their property or in playgrounds.

“On a near daily basis, I hear from constituents who are worried about their safety walking home at night, others who can’t get home because the hallway into their condo’s reception is occupied by someone smoking meth or crack cocaine,” he said.

“The NDP drug activists fear-monger about how removing drug injection sites beside schools will lead to various drug and crime-filled scenarios without realizing what they are describing is the current realities of what people are literally living right now.”

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
X: @bryanpassifiume

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