HART Hubs alone won’t end drug poisoning crisis

January 7, 2025

QUEEN'S PARK — Ontario Greens Deputy Leader and MPP for Kitchener Centre Aislinn Clancy released the following statement in response to news that nine CTS sites have been selected for conversion to HART Hubs by March 31, 2025.

“I’m grateful that our Kitchener community will be receiving funding for the creation of a HART Hub. But I want to be clear that the Ford government’s harm reduction cuts are going to claim lives.

People are not going to stop using drugs simply because we take harm reduction services away or threaten jail time. When CTS sites close, we’re only going to see more public drug use, more infectious disease spread and more drug poisonings showing up in our ERs.

I want to remind the Premier that we can’t police our way out of a public health crisis. Ontario needs harm reduction and it needs supportive housing and it needs accessible treatment options for people in addictions recovery.

Once again, I call on the Premier and the Minister of Health to properly invest in harm reduction as part of a comprehensive plan to provide low-barrier mental health and addictions care to every single Ontarian who needs it.”

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