OTTAWA — Supervised consumption sites are just "drug dens" that a future Conservative government would seek to close and not provide with "a single taxpayer dollar," Pierre Poilievre said Friday. During a visit to a park near one such site in Montreal, Poilievre said he would shutter all locations near schools, playgrounds and "anywhere else that they endanger the public." "Radical bureaucrats don't have the right to open these drug dens anywhere they want," he said.
The first supervised injection site opened in Vancouver more than 20 years ago. The sites are intended to prevent overdoses by allowing people to bring their drugs to use under the observation of trained staff. They also provide access to clean supplies to reduce rates of HIV and other diseases, as well as offer referrals to people seeking treatment options.
Health Canada says more than 40,000 people have died from toxic drugs since 2016, when the agency began tracking these figures. In 2023, British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario led the country in terms of the number of deaths. Most who died were men.
A 2011 Supreme Court ruling said that closing the Vancouver operation would deprive users of their Charter rights. Poilievre said Friday that landmark decision does not mean supervised drug sites can operate anywhere without any restrictions. Rather, he believes "reasonable restrictions" can be put in place to prevent them from opening "in locations that endanger the community, or where there is community opposit.