Interesting development. Douggie banned safe consumption sites within 200m of schools or daycares. That means five in Toronto need to relocate or close. I was thinking 200m was pretty short but apparently even at that short distance, the impact of the change is big. Crime near consumption sites is double that of further away (although that may be partly fun with stats as they are typically located in seedier areas). Of course, public health and advocates are arguing people will die due to this change as they may not get immediately narcanned. They're probably right.
I accept that addiction is a health issue and not a choice. Sadly, not all health issues have happy endings. I think this is another step towards considering drug addiction a terminal illness requiring palliative care if interventional treatment is unsuccessful. Continually intervening with narcan is a strategy that has epically failed imo. It doesn't help those that are sick, it adds a huge load to first responders and hospitals and with a higher density of people willing to do anything to get drugs, crime increases (probably almost linear with highly addicted people in an area).
There are currently 17 provincially regulated consumption sites in the province. Ten of them are in Toronto, and most of those are downtown.
toronto.citynews.ca