Toronto unveils interim safe injection site, 3 permanent sites being built
TORONTO — An interim safe injection site in Toronto — the first such officially-sanctioned facility in Canada’s most populous city — will save lives as the city grapples with a spike in suspected overdoses, public health officials said Monday as the temporary location opened its doors.
The site, which can accommodate three people at a time, is at Toronto Public Health’s downtown harm reduction facility, known as The Works. It launched a day after receiving approval from Health Canada and about a week after harm reduction advocates set up an unsanctioned injection site in a city park.
“Today is very good day because we’re able to offer this service to our clients,” said Shaun Hopkins, manager of facility. “They really need it and we think they’re going to use it and hopefully we can save some lives here.”
The city is currently constructing three permanent supervised injection sites, but they won’t open until some time this fall.