NEWS

CanHepC statement on the Ontario government’s decision to ban supervised consumption sites

  • 2024-09-09 00:00:00
Poster reading 'safe consumption sites save lives.' with syringes pictured on the righ hand side.

On August 20th, 2024, the Ontario government announced their plan to ban supervised consumption sites within 200 meters of schools and child care centers. The ban will result in the closing of 10 supervised drug consumption sites in Ontario with sites being encouraged to transition into addiction treatment-only facilities. The Ontario government also plans to introduce legislation this fall prohibiting municipalities or any organization from standing up new consumption sites or participating in federal “safer” supply initiatives.

 

While we recognize the importance of offering addiction treatment, the Canadian Network on Hepatitis C (CanHepC) urges the Ontario government to reverse their decision as the proposed new treatment facilities do not offer the same level of comprehensive and preventative care as supervised consumption sites. Harm reduction services offered in supervised consumption sites not only save lives, but prevent the spread of blood-borne infectious diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C. These sites reach individuals who are often disengaged from healthcare systems, and serve as a bridge to build trust and access to care. They are a crucial part of the arsenal to prevent transmission of hepatitis C, identify the undiagnosed, link them to treatment and ultimately achieve elimination of hepatitis C by 2030, a goal to which Canada is committed1.

 

CanHepC is a national research and training network bringing together over 100 researchers and organizations acting in the field of hepatitis C from across Canada and internationally. Our aim is to advance hepatitis C research and enable the uptake of research evidence into practice and policy. In that vein, strong research evidence gathered by members of our network and elsewhere have shown that:

 

  • Supervised consumption sites offer safe using environments effective at reducing drug overdose and death by up to 35%2 in the areas where they operate.
  • Harm reduction services offered in supervised consumption sites, such as sterile needle and syringe distribution programs, effectively prevent the transmission of blood-borne infectious disease, and reduce the risk for hepatitis C infection by up by 56%3-4 among people who inject drugs, one of the groups with the heaviest burden of hepatitis C infection in Canada5.

 

Supervised consumption sites offer a range of integrated services including blood-borne infectious disease testing and subsequent linkage to primary care services and treatment6. These sites have a critical role to play in reaching the 1 in 4 people in Canada that are unaware they have hepatitis C5 and preventing its spread to people who use drugs and in the general population. This represents important economic benefits in terms of savings on the healthcare costs associated with hepatitis C complications down the line.

 

We are also deeply concerned that the Ontario government’s ban on supervised consumption sites could have a snowball effect on policy decisions around supervised consumption sites in other provinces in Canada. This would have a catastrophic impact on the lives of people everywhere in the country as these sites are critical in preventing death by overdose and the spread of blood-borne infectious disease. Canada has long been a global leader in harm reduction services and infectious disease prevention and we should work to continue to expand this legacy.

 

CanHepC calls on the Ontario Government to consider the evidence supporting supervised consumption sites’ positive impact on overall public health safety, and to reverse its decision to close them.

 

 

 

References

1. Public Health Agency of Canada. Government of Canada’s sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBI) Action Plan 2024–2030. February 2024. Available at https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/publications/diseases-conditions/sexually-transmitted-blood-borne-infections-action-plan-2024-2030.html

2. Kennedy, Mary Clare et al. The North American opioid crisis: how effective are supervised consumption sites? The Lancet, 2022,Volume 400, Issue 10361, 1403 - 1404.

3. Platt L, Minozzi S, Reed J, et al. Needle and syringe programmes and opioid substitution therapy for preventing HCV transmission among people who inject drugs: findings from a Cochrane Review and meta-analysis. Addiction. 2018 Mar;113(3): 545–563.

4. World Health Organization. Guidelines for the Screening, Care and Treatment of Persons with Hepatitis C. Geneva; 2014. Available from: http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/ handle/10665/111747/9789241548755_eng.pdf?sequence=1

5. Popovic N, Williams A, Périnet S, Campeau L, Yang Q, Zhang F, Yan P, Feld J, Janjua N, Klein M, Krajden M, Wong W, Cox J. National Hepatitis C estimates: Incidence, prevalence, undiagnosed proportion and treatment, Canada, 2019. Can Commun Dis Rep. 2022 Nov 3;48(11-12):540-549.

6.  Lettner, Bernadette et al. Rapid hepatitis C virus point-of-care RNA testing and treatment at an integrated supervised consumption service in Toronto, Canada: a prospective, observational cohort study. The Lancet Regional Health – Americas, Volume 22, 100490.