Help, Not Harm

Please sign our petition calling on Justin Trudeau to get people the treatment they need for their addictions instead of encouraging even more hard drug abuse.

Rebel News recently made a trip to one of these facilities located at 277 Victoria Street. In a matter of minutes, my producer and I were given various drug supplies including crack pipes and syringes. While inside the facility, I questioned if there was an age requirement for acquiring these items. The answer was simply "no."

If you have ever walked by this specific location, you will almost always notice groups of people using drugs directly outside the facility. This is situated right beside Toronto Metropolitan University, formerly known as Ryerson, and is steps away from Yonge and Dundas Square, one of the city's main attractions located in the downtown core.

We spoke with individuals using the services provided at Toronto Public Health. People expressed both appreciation and concern in regard to these services. Not only does this facility provide drug paraphernalia, but it is also used as a Supervised Consumption Service, meaning a "life-saving health service provides a safe and hygienic environment for people to inject pre-obtained drugs under the supervision of qualified staff."

Justin Trudeau seems to think that supplying people with safe spaces and equipment to use hard drugs is the way to combat the issue of rising drug addiction. Supervised Consumption Services, also known as safe injection sites, were first introduced to the city in 2017. When we look at the data on suspected fatal overdoses from 2018 (146) to 2022 (272), we see an 86% increase.

Is this system working, or making things even worse?

When we look at the Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's method of tackling the drug problem, we see a totally different approach. Instead of aiding the habit and continuing the vicious cycle, Alberta is looking to rehabilitate people and get them off drugs.