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What in the World...

CANAD A

TO RO NTO CIT Y CO U N CI LLO R S VOTE I N FAVO U R
O F SA FE I NJ EC TI O N S ITE S CBC News Jul 14, 2016

Toronto City Council has approved “The evidence is clear: safe injec-
the creation of 3 safe injection sites tion sites save lives and build safer
in the downtown core. Council voted and healthier communities, and their C AN ADA AP P R OVE S
36-3 in favour of the motion. impact will be felt across the province,” PR E S C R I P T I O N H E R O I N
the Registered Nurses’ Association of FO R ‘ADDI C T S ’ W HO
The Toronto Board of Health Ontario said, calling Thursday a “land- H AVE FAI LE D OT HE R
unanimously supported the creation mark day for harm reduction.” TR E ATM E NT S
of the sites, and families of drug users
have backed them. Councillors were Will Worley Independent 14 September 2016
warned drug overdoses are going up in Chronic heroin addicts in Canada
the city, and that something needs to be will now be able to receive the drug
done about the public health issue. on prescription. Pharmaceutical grade
heroin, known as diacetylmorphine,
will be available to patients who
Safe injection is already legal in have not responded to traditional
Canada, as long as the federal treatment methods. Like in many
government grants approval under countries, opium addiction is a key
Bill C-2. Both Toronto Mayor and health concern in Canada and
Police Chief backed the creation of the lawmakers hope the move will
sites, despite concerns from critics prevent deaths from overdoses and
that they may encourage drug use. help addicts better control their lives.

NAL O X ONE T O BE IMMEDIA TELY DISTRIBUTED T O
RELEASED PRISON INMA TES IN O NT ARIO
by Karen Howlett And Jane Taber , The Globe and Mail 5 July 2016
Ontario Health Minister Eric
Hoskins has overruled his own
bureaucrats, ordering them to
immediately begin distributing the
opioid antidote naloxone to newly
released inmates.
A recent research paper found that
an Ontario inmate’s chance of dying
by an overdose spikes to 56 times
the national average in the two
weeks after release. “Leaving prison
shouldn’t be a death sentence,” he
said. “Providing naloxone inside and
outside the prison gates is guaran-
teed to save lives.”

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