NDP Leader Andrea Horwath was in North Bay on Tuesday to call on the Ford government to spend more on the addictions crisis, and to outline her plan, should the NDP form government next summer.

North Bay has been hit especially hard. But the overdose crisis has ravaged all parts of Ontario, from northern towns to downtown Toronto. The pandemic has increased the number of overdoses and deaths, but the number of lives lost was increasing each year well before COVID-19.

So far, the Progressive Conservative government has taken a treatment-focused approach, eschewing more support for front-line harm reduction in favour of getting people into treatment beds and clinics.

Front-line advocates for people who use drugs say it's a strategy that ignores the reality on the ground — the common argument is that people can't kick their addiction if they're dead. Generally, the asks from these experts, many of whom have lived experience, are: decriminalization of drug possession for personal use; more supervised consumption sites; and a safe supply of drugs for those who use them, free from high-potency adulterants like fentanyl.

Those don't appear to be on the Ford government's radar. Its plan hasn't changed much during the pandemic, even as the chief medical officer has called for a "rejuvenation" of Ontario's strategy, including a renewed focus on consumption and treatment sites, opioid agonist therapies, naloxone distribution and rapid access addiction medicine (RAAM) clinics.

Last month, Health Minister Christine Elliott said addiction is "the next crisis" the province will have to deal with after COVID-19.

Recently, the government put $32.7 million into opioid issues, including identifying people who come to hospitals with overdoses, and "how to speak to them, then, about options for rehabilitation," including treatment beds and clinics, she said.

Some months ago, the government was looking into supplying clean drugs to those who use them, as British Columbia has started doing. But at some point that was abandoned. Ontario doesn't appear to have ever lobbied the federal government on decriminalization. Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Michael Tibollo, who once oversaw the OPP as the former minister of community safety, has stressed that the government's focus is on treatment and recovery — as opposed to harm reduction.

The recovery-first strategy is laid out in more detail in the government's "Roadmap to Wellness," which will see it spend $1.9 billion over 10 years (along with another $1.9 billion from Ottawa) on mental health and addictions.

Critics, including Horwath on Tuesday, have said the government needs to lift the cap on supervised drug consumption sites. The Ford government set a limit of 21 for the province shortly after it was elected, in a move widely seen as a way to satisfy homeowners and businesses who often rail against the sites, and the associated population, due to perceived issues with crime and cleanliness.

The Liberals said they're still developing their plan, but would also lift the cap, reconvene the Opioid Emergency Task Force, which hasn't met since the Ford government was elected, and add funding and other resources, including naloxone kits.

Tibollo has said it's been a struggle to get municipalities on board with consumption sites, and that there is still room under the cap for more applications.

For his part, Tibollo has told QP Briefing he hasn't seen any evidence that the sites harm business.

Horwath said the province should be better supporting cities and towns to make the sites more attractive.

"When communities are looking to put together a treatment and prevention site, they should be getting all kinds of support from the provincial government," including a boost in finances, she said.

She noted the government cut $330 million from mental health and addictions in 2018. She said 29 residential treatment beds in Ontario's northeast had to close last year due to a lack of funding. The wait for youth mental health treatment is now 370 days in North Bay, she added.

NDP, Liberals call for more supervised consumption sites as government focuses on treatment and recovery

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