NDP health critic France Gélinas to Minister of Health: declare a state of emergency to combat the opioid crisis

Letter from NDP health critic MPP France Gélinas to Minister of Health and Long Term Care, Christine Elliot.
Honourable Minister Christine Elliot

Dear Minister Elliot,

Toronto Police Service issued a Public Safety Alert on August 14, 2018 warning the public about a batch of dangerous drugs being sold in Toronto’s downtown core. The drugs are thought to contain fentanyl or carfentanil, an opioid 100 times more potent than fentanyl, which police believe are responsible for causing the overdose deaths of at least seven people in Toronto since August 2nd.

I write to you today to urge your government to declare a state of emergency to combat the growing opioid crisis. Declaring an emergency would allow funding to move quickly to where it’s needed most. That means more resources in the hands of harm-reduction workers who are battling the emergency on the front-lines, and the continued operation and expansion of the province’s overdose prevention sites. Public health experts, front-line workers and people with lived experience battling addictions are clear in their support for overdose prevention sites and safe injections sites as a proven tool for harm-reduction and connecting individuals with the services they need to get their lives back on track.

In response to a rising number of overdose hospitalizations and deaths, New Democrats have been calling for an emergency declaration since August 2017. In light of the recent tragic deaths in Toronto and the near fatal overdoses of seven inmates within minutes of each other at Elgin Middlesex Detention Centre, our calls are just as germane today as they were a year ago. How many more people need to die before the opioid crisis is considered an emergency?

With your government’s recent decision to throw into question the continuation of all overdose prevention sites in the province, New Democrats are concerned this government is creating the conditions for the opioid crisis to worsen. Eliminating all overdose prevention sites will only result in more overdose deaths and will undermine the efforts of front-line workers who engage with the individuals utilizing these sites to get them into the programs and services they need to successfully overcome their addictions.

The previous Liberal government refused to do the right thing and declare a state of emergency. New Democrats sincerely hope this government will make a different choice. Municipalities, health care and community workers, and those on the front lines need a provincial government that’s there as a partner in saving lives and making neighbourhoods safer – not a provincial government that resists requests for faster help. This is about saving lives.

We urge this government to act swiftly to declare a state of emergency to combat the growing opioid crisis.

Sincerely,

[original signed]

France Gélinas

MPP Nickel Belt, NDP health critic