The past two months have seen intense debate over supervised consumption services in the core neighbourhoods. The Boyle Street Community League believes strongly that we need supervised consumption services in our community.

Since their inception over a year ago, there have been nearly 70,000 visits to the three sites. That’s 70,000 times that someone has not used injection drugs in our back alleys, playgrounds, and storefronts. That’s also 70,000 times where needle debris has not been discarded in these locations for our children to find. Shutting down these services will force the current service users to move outside. That makes our neighbourhood less safe.

More importantly, when we speak about community safety, a key element seems to be missing from the debate: those using these services are our neighbours. They are part of our community. Their safety is as important as anyone else’s. Over 700 times since they opened, these supervised consumption sites have overturned an overdose. They are very literally saving the lives of our neighbours.

We urge the province to continue funding these important, life-saving health interventions. They make our community safer for everyone.

Submitted by the Boyle Street Community League Board of Directors.