3 Toronto neighbourhoods set to get safe injection sites

Toronto's medical officer of health is asking the city to consider opening three safe injection sites. "The overdose rates we're seeing in Toronto are the highest annual number to date," said Toronto's Medical Officer of Health Dr. David McKeown in a statement today.

"Research shows that supervised injection services save lives, reduce drug overdoses and limit the spread of blood-borne diseases."

His office recommends The Works Needle Exchange Program at Victoria and Dundas, the Queen West-Central Toronto Community Health Centre at Queen and Bathurst, and the South Riverdale Community Health Centre by Queen and Carlaw as the three safe injection site locations.

All three currently have harm reduction programs in place and are the busiest needle distribution centres in Toronto. Canada has only two safe injection sites and both are situated in Vancouver.

Before Toronto gets these life-saving centres, as CBC News reports, the city will hold public meetings and a report is expected to go in front of the Toronto Board of Health by July 2016. Though, these facilities need federal approval prior to opening.

Are you in favour of safe injection sites at these locations? Let us know in the comments.

Photo by asianz in the blogTO Flickr pool.