Inside Toronto’s new drug withdrawal centre [Video]

Joshua Orson sits on the edge of a bed in a bright, clean room, thinking about his journey from addict to health-care worker.

The room is part of a new, 36-bed detox space in downtown Toronto that largely helps homeless patients, although it’s open to anyone who needs to get clean. There are private and shared rooms, a kitchen with cooked meals, laundry rooms and several lounges to play cards or watch television.

The space offers group and individual therapy, with addictions counsellors and nurses on the clock 24 hours a day.

Withdrawal Management Services, operated by Unity Health Toronto, is free and funded by the Ministry of Health. It is one of four publicly funded residential detox facilities in Toronto that helps people get off drugs and alcohol.

It is a vastly different space from its previous iteration where Orson got clean – a dorm-style room inside a homeless …