Doug Ford calls federal government the ‘biggest drug dealer’ in Canada for providing addicts with safer drug supplies

Ontario Premier Doug Ford vehemently defended his government’s decision to close supervised drug consumption sites that are near schools and daycares and lashed out at the federal government on Wednesday for its safer supply program.

“As far as I’m concerned the federal government is the biggest drug dealer in the entire country,” Ford fumed from St. Catharines on Wednesday where he was making an unrelated announcement.

“It’s unacceptable, it needs to stop. We need to get rid of safe supply and put money into treatment and detox beds, that’s what we need to do, not continue to give people free drugs.”

Health Canada has approved 16 safer supply projects in Ontario, with all but one (Thunder Bay) in southern Ontario.

The federal government’s website describes the program as “providing prescribed medications as a safer alternative to the toxic illegal drug supply to people who are at high risk of overdose. Safer supply services can help prevent overdoses, save lives, and connect people who use drugs to other health and social services.”

The City of Toronto said there were 524 opioid toxicity deaths in Toronto last year.

But rather than keep people safe, Ford said the safer supply program actually creates more addicts, perpetuating an endless cycle that his government is hoping to halt with a $387 million investment in 19 new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs.

“They get to go up there (safer supply sites) and get endless, endless amounts of drugs and guess what they do? They go out and they sell it and get other people addicted and then they go out and get stronger drugs,” Ford said of the controversial program that’s run by Health Canada.

Ford made the remarks a day after his government announced it would close supervised drug consumption sites that are within 200 metres of schools and childcare centres.

He balked at suggestions that the closures would lead to more overdoses, more public drug use, and strain emergency services.

“I get endless phone calls about needles being in the parks, needles being by the schools and the daycares, that’s unacceptable,” he said.

“Giving someone, an addict, a place to do their injections — we haven’t seen it get better. This was supposed to be the greatest thing since sliced bread. It’s the worst thing that could ever happen to a community to have one of these safe injection sites in their neighbourhood.”

The Ontario government commissioned two reports that actually recommended keeping existing drug consumption sites open, but Health Minister Sylvia Jones vetoed those recommendations and Ford agreed with that move, saying the studies failed to take into account public concerns about the sites.

When pressed by a reporter about going against the recommendations it sought, Ford shot back: “I’m wondering how you would feel if I stuck one of these beside your house. You wouldn’t like it, neither would your neighbours or anyone else.”

“Ever since they’ve been up, it’s a failed policy,” he argued. “Simple as that. We are making a better policy — $378 million to help these people, support them, get them back on their feet, get them a good paying job. That’s what we need to do, we don’t need to feed them drugs.”

With files from The Canadian Press