Government of Ontario, Canada, to close 10 supervised consumption sites, ban new ones

Ontario will shutter 10 consumption and treatment services sites and ban future ones, in a move some experts say will lead to more deaths and public drug use.

CTS sites, as they're known, allow people to use drugs inside without fear of arrest. Workers reverse overdoses and are required to connect users to mental health and treatment options. Most sites are run by community health centres or local public health units.

Sites within 200 metres of a school or child-care centre will have to close or transform into "Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) hubs," Health Minister Sylvia Jones told a crowd of mayors, councillors and city and town staff at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference in Ottawa on Tuesday.

The hubs will add up to 375 "highly supportive housing units," according to a government release, and aim to connect people to services including mental health treatment, primary care, employment help and other supports.

They won't offer safe supply programs, supervised consumption or needle exchange programs, the government said.

The government is putting $378 million toward creating 19 HART hubs. Applications from current CTS sites slated to close will be prioritized, Jones said.

In the fall, the government plans to also ban municipalities from participating in the federal safer supply program, and from requesting the feds to decriminalize drugs in their cities, as Toronto has done.