'People don't judge you': Inside the final days of a safe consumption site in Toronto

Liam Casey · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Apr 11, 2025 2:10 PM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

Mike Erickson wheels his powerfulness seat astir a Toronto supervised depletion site, waiting for his person to amusement up.

He has tested his fentanyl determination and the results showed it did not person immoderate of the "garbage" — carnal tranquillizer oregon benzodiazepines — that is progressively mixed with the deadly opioid sold successful the city.

He skipped investigating his drugs 1 time astir a period agone and immoderate of that garbage astir killed him.

He remembers injecting what helium thought was axenic fentanyl into a vein and instantly going under. He recalls snippets of consciousness from that time: screaming astatine the unit who helped him respire for 15 minutes and administered naloxone, the opioid antidote.

"I thought I was already dormant and successful hell," Erickson says. "I couldn't retrieve wherever I lived, couldn't retrieve my girl, couldn't retrieve nothing."

Yet, helium was alive.

Erickson is simply a regular astatine 2 sites tally by the Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre. He's addicted to fentanyl and has lived a hard life. He mislaid his legs and fingers to diabetes complications years agone and gets astir successful a motorized wheelchair.

The Canadian Press visited the Queen Street supervised depletion tract connected a caller Friday earlier it shuttered its doors connected April 1. That's the time a caller Ontario instrumentality came into effect banning specified sites located wrong 200 metres of a schoolhouse oregon daycare.

The centre is participating successful the ineligible lawsuit of different Toronto supervised depletion tract that took the state to court, challenging the constitutionality of the law.

A justice heard the lawsuit successful precocious March and granted an injunction to let 10 specified sites to stay unfastened portion helium considers his decision. But 9 of the 10 sites had already agreed to modulation to the province's caller abstinence-based exemplary — homelessness and addiction betterment attraction hubs, oregon HART hubs — and closed.

The state volition springiness the caller sites astir 4 times the wealth it gave supervised depletion sites. But Health Minister Sylvia Jones's bureau precocious told The Canadian Press the provincial backing was contingent connected the caller hubs discontinuing usage of supervised depletion services.

Jones has said the authorities is shutting down the sites owed to information and information concerns, particularly for children.

Clients accidental sites person saved them implicit the years

The Queen Street tract is among those that chose to modulation to 1 of the caller hubs.

Josh McLean, who lives successful a structure adjacent Lake Ontario, has been coming to the tract implicit the past year. The 40-year-old has been stateless since the property of 16 and is present addicted to crystal meth. Like galore others, McLean has overdosed a fewer times and was brought backmost to beingness astatine a supervised depletion site.

"I mostly consciousness harmless here," helium says. "People don't justice you, they thatch you however to attraction astir beingness again."

Another tract user, Brendan Fitzpatrick, had conscionable moved to Toronto the time before. He says helium mislaid a household subordinate successful Kingston, Ont., and had thing near to support him there. But earlier helium near that city, helium was capable to get disconnected fentanyl with assistance from a section depletion site, the Integrated Care Hub.

Now he's connected methadone and nary longer craves the opioid, but volition sporadically get precocious connected crystal meth. For that, helium goes to a supervised depletion site.

But the travel disconnected fentanyl took a agelong time, helium said.

"The hub and the assemblage successful Kingston truly helped me," helium said. "They acceptable maine up with a methadone doc and it honestly changed my life. The happening is, if it wasn't for a harmless injection site, I don't deliberation I'd beryllium cleanable of fentanyl today, you can't conscionable bash it connected your own."

WATCH | Critics pass supervised depletion tract closures volition outgo lives: 

The waning days of the tract weighed connected staff, too.

Patrick Murray becomes affectional erstwhile contemplating his clip arsenic an overdose prevention enactment worker. The concern is overwhelming if helium thinks astir it excessively much.

"It's hard erstwhile you're connected a squad you judge in, you judge successful your occupation and you really assistance prevention radical from dying," helium says. "And our clients look to admit our work. So present it feels similar I'm successful the set connected the Titanic, playing euphony and everyone's frightened and sad."

Neighbour says tract closure conjures mixed feelings

But extracurricular the Queen Street site, wherever garbage and respective needles were strewn successful a adjacent alley, uncovering acceptance among neighbours has been a challenge.

Lois Dellert's location backs onto that alley. She has lived determination since 2008 and supports supervised depletion sites successful general. She got to cognize a fewer tract regulars due to the fact that they hung retired successful the alley and says break-ins, vandalism and unit were rare.

"I didn't consciousness afraid," Dellert says.

But she says the concern changed successful 2023. Since past she's seen a lot: cause use, cause deals, fights, discarded needles, theft and vandalism of homes and garages, and radical passing out.

She has been woken up astatine each hours of the night, threatened galore times and feels similar an outsider successful her ain neighbourhood.

WATCH | Supervised depletion tract closures gully mixed assemblage reaction: 

Dellert says she's tried galore times to sermon the concern with the site, but determination wasn't overmuch engagement. Site managers often said they could not power what happened extracurricular its walls, she says.

"I'm hopeful the caller rules volition instrumentality our neighbourhood to what it was similar conscionable a fewer years ago," Dellert says.

"But I'm besides sad. It is not the harmless depletion tract itself that was the issue, it was the mode it was being tally successful the past 2 years. And erstwhile we brought up circumstantial complaints, we were discounted and excluded and it felt similar the enactment they're doing outweighs immoderate antagonistic interaction to the neighbourhood."

Dellert has nary thought what to expect present that the tract has stopped offering supervised depletion services.

So acold small has changed successful the neighbourhood from her vantage point, though it's lone been a fewer days since the closure.

But it's a monumental alteration for those with small else, Erickson says.

"We're going to get bodies successful alleys, we're going to get bodies successful parks."