After the closure of four supervised consumption sites in Toronto due to provincial legislation, remaining sites have reported increased visitor numbers. Bill Sinclair, CEO of the Neighbourhood Group, noted a 30% uptick in visits to their site. Users are changing behaviors, preferring smoking over injecting drugs, reflecting an adaptation to the new reality. Additionally, service providers face increased pressure due to growing numbers, with projections of further increases during warmer months, raising concerns about maintaining supportive relationships with users amid changing dynamics.
"There's been a trend for a while of smoking rather than injecting, because of the perception that that is safer people are doing their best to try to anticipate what a world might look like when the sites are not there."
"It is stretching our staff to try to build the trusting relationships they've been trying to establish," said the charity's CEO Keith Hambly, adding that user numbers could go up even more after the summer months since some people are more inclined to use outdoors during warmer weather.
#drug-policy #health-services #supervised-consumption-sites #addiction-treatment #kentucky-drug-use-trends
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