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For Immediate Release 18 June 2020 Toronto Overdose Prevention Society calls for the decriminalization of drug use, defunding the police and reinvesting the f...unds in overdose response following release of devastating 2019 overdose statistics Yesterday, updated numbers for overdose deaths in Canada were quietly released by the federal government. From 2016-2019, over 15,000 people in Canada have died from opioid-related overdose. While the tragedy of overdose deaths have been overshadowed in recent months by the COVID pandemic, the continuing toll from this public health crisis has continued unabated. Included in this update is the grim news that for 2019, Ontario becomes the province with the highest number of overdose deaths in Canada, with 1,535 probable and confirmed opioid toxicity deaths in our province. This is not only an increase over 2018 numbers, but these numbers represent a tremendous loss of life, all the more tragic given that many of these deaths could have been prevented were it not for the continued inaction by the government of Ontario, including their defunding of life-saving overdose prevention sites and their refusal to introduce proven measures to address overdose-related death. It’s also important to note that for the first time, Ontario has surpassed BC as the province with the highest number of overdose deaths in Canada (for reference, BC had 995 deaths in 2019, and in their worst year - 2018- BC had 1561 deaths). Since they were elected over two years ago, we’ve been calling on the Ford government to reinstate the Opioid Emergency Taskforce, to properly fund front-line community organizations doing harm reduction and overdose prevention work, and to expand supervised consumption sites and overdose prevention sites. Instead, they’ve done the opposite, cutting services and stalling the response. The numbers released today are absolutely tragic, but this was also completely predictable and preventable, said Zoe Dodd, of the Toronto Overdose Prevention Society. And while race-based data is not available in the overdose statistics, we know from our work on the front lines that Indigenous and Black people are disproportionately impacted by overdose due to the racist war on drugs, and ongoing police brutality against Black and Indigenous communities. The Toronto Overdose Prevention Society stands in solidarity with calls to defund the police, and to instead re-invest Toronto’s billion dollar police budget. We also call for the immediate decriminalization of drug use; decriminalization and calls for police defunding as intimately linked, given the profoundly racist effects of criminalization. Policing and criminalizing drug use leads to the expansion of police powers particularly in communities of colour, isolation from essential services, and increased exposure to police violence among people who use drugs. Decriminalizing drug use would immediately free up significant police budget and resources, which can instead be used to address the root causes of trauma in our communities including colonialism, racism, homophobia and transphobia by reinvesting in community-led initiatives that address the structural violence responsible for so much devastation in our communities. In the years since the Ford government has been elected in Ontario, the overdose crisis in the province and particularly in Toronto has worsened dramatically due to the provincial government’s inaction, ongoing refusal to implement proven measures, and the inept leadership of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. David Williams. This is particularly frightening as there is emerging evidence that the intersection of the dual crises of COVID-19 and overdose are leading to a glaring increase in overdose deaths in the community in early 2020. Provinces such as BC who have access to timely data collection have noted increases in overdose deaths since the onset of the COVID pandemic, and early data released by Toronto Public Health shows a sharp increase in fatal overdose calls to Toronto Paramedic Service in April and May of 2020. This is particularly the case for people experiencing homelessness. While the response to COVID-19 by the City of Toronto has been slow and inadequate, it is also alarming that the newly released overdose numbers in 2019 show that in Toronto, 23% of people who died from accidental opioid toxicity in 2019 were experiencing homelessness, a two-fold increase compared to the previous year (11%). This additional risk of overdose among people experiencing homelessness highlights the need for harm reduction supports that recognize the unique risks faced by people who use drugs during this crisis, particularly as physical distancing and other COVID-19 response measures have made access to services in community settings more challenging. There is an urgent need for overdose prevention sites (OPS), extensive harm reduction street outreach and harm reduction supports in shelters, respites and newly opened hotels in the City of Toronto. The fact that not a single OPS is in operation in a shelter, respite or hotel setting in Toronto at this point in the overdose crisis, and particularly in the context of COVID, is unthinkable, said Amanda Leo, from the Toronto Overdose Prevention Society. In light of the devastating 2019 overdose numbers, and the intersection of the COVID-19 pandemic with the overdose crisis, the Toronto Overdose Prevention Society calls on all levels of government to: 1) Decriminalize simple possession and use of all drugs, defund the police, and re-invest the resources in community-led overdose response initiatives. 2) Increase funding to existing harm reduction and overdose prevention programs within low-threshold community organizations that prioritize the involvement and leadership of people who use drugs. 3) Integrate harm reduction supports, peer-witnessing and Overdose Prevention Sites in shelters, respites, and the hotels and apartments being opened to house people who are unsheltered and/or experiencing homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic. 4) Immediately expand funding for Safer Opioid Supply programs to provide an alternative for people who use drugs from an ongoing toxic street drug supply, and restore funding to Overdose Prevention Sites that have had their funding cut by the Ford government. Media contacts: Zoe Dodd - [email protected] Gillian Kolla [email protected]