Ontario needs holistic approach to drug treatment amid consumption site closures, doctor says [Video]

Dr. Sharon Koivu says a decision by the Ontario government that will shutter 10 supervised drug consumption sites across the province was disappointing — though not a total shock.

“I am very concerned about the decision to shut them down [but] I’m not surprised,” said Koivu, an addiction medicine consultant with St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital in an interview with The Current guest host Connie Walker.

The plan, first announced on Tuesday by Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones, bars supervised consumption sites from operating within 200 metres of a school or daycare facility. Five of the facilities are located in Toronto, while the other five are in Ottawa, Kitchener, Thunder Bay, Hamilton and Guelph, and must close by March 31, 2025.

It comes after two reviews into supervised consumption sites commissioned by Queen’s Park following the death of a woman who was struck by a stray bullet near one such site in Toronto last year.

In the same announcement, …