Ontario will continue to allow overdose-prevention sites but the goal of the sites is changing.
At a news conference Monday morning, Health Minister Christine Elliott says the province will continue to fund overdose-prevention sites but will change their name and focus.
Elliott says a review of the sites has concluded the existing model must shift from overdose prevention to also include a longer-term goal of helping drug users receive treatment and rehabilitation services.
The government is going to approve no more than 21 overdose-prevention sites and existing facilities can apply to continue to operate under the new model.
The Progressive Conservatives put a freeze on the planned openings of several sites this the summer as they reviewed the future of the sites, a move that has drawn criticism from harm-prevention workers and many in the medical community.
Windsor West New Democrat MPP Lisa Gretzky told AM800's The Lynn Martin Show the provincial limit will have consequences.
"What it's doing is pitting one community against another in order to provide these life saving services where people actually have access to the resources they need to not only save their lives but to be able to rehabilitate overcome their addiction"
Gretzky adds that all the government has basically done is rebrand overdose prevention sites.
"You have to wonder where are the priorities of this government, they talk about putting a pause on it, you can't out people's lives on pause people have died while this government has chosen to ignore the evidence that was before them "
The head of Hotel Dieu Grace Healthcare is not discouraged by the announcement today on safe injection sites.
CEO Janice Kaffer told AM800 listeners on the Lynn Martin Show the community needs to find the positive aspects of the government position.
She says her goal is to find ways to attract as much funding and resources as possible to this area.
"Our hospital is going to focus on the treatment piece of it and we're going to see what we have to do to make sure that we can capitalize on brining ore treatment resources locally. And we're going to continue to monitor what happens in the community from the perspective of the overdose prevention site"
Kaffer says this are has seen almost no investment from this or the previous government for mental health and addiction services.
"We need to be coming together as a community and saying that's not OK, we need to be taking every advantage that there is to be able to put forward our needs in a real way to government and if they're open to hearing about detox beds then we need to be taking advantage of that opportunity"
Kaffer says her greatest fear is about the lack of addiction services available to young adults, saying it's the population most at risk.
The government's new model will take effect in April, 2019.