TORONTO — An advocacy group says a recent string of overdose deaths in a pocket of Canada’s most populous city highlights the need for new overdose prevention sites. The Toronto Overdose Prevention Society is calling on the province to reverse a decision to pause the opening of such sites, a move detailed by the health minister earlier this week. Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott has said that the government would make a decision on the fate of the overdose prevention sites, as well as more permanent facilities aimed at fighting the opioid crisis, by the end of September. Overdose prevention sites are approved by the province and are temporary facilities set up to address an immediate need in a community, while safe injection sites are more permanent locations approved by the federal government after a more extensive application process. Meantime, Toronto Mayor John Tory pointed to such sites as one of the ways “all three governments” are working on addressing the opioid epidemic.

Source: National Post August 15, 2018 18:33 UTC