Safe supply sites are set to open in Toronto for the first time — a shift that comes amid a worsening opioid overdose crisis, thanks to
new funding from the federal government.
On Thursday, local MPs announced nearly $1.6 million in funds for harm-reduction efforts in the city, with close to $600,000 earmarked for a safer supply pilot project through a Parkdale-based organization.
The goal? Providing easier access to prescription opioids for drug users through existing community agencies, and potentially preventing deaths.
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The sites will focus on agencies' existing clients, not the broader public. Those drug users will be able to gain prescriptions for hydromorphone tablets — a type of opioid — that they can pick up at a pharmacy, then take orally or inject.
Angela Robertson, executive director of the Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre, said it's a drug covered by the Ontario Drug Benefit program, so the majority of their clients who are on Ontario Works or disability support won't have to pay when picking up the prescriptions.
