Sudbury mayor backs call for drug decriminalization to help fight opioid crisis
As the opioid crisis continues to claim lives across Ontario. Ontario mayors are calling for upper levels of government to decriminalize some substances to help combat addiction.
The Ontario Drug Policy Research Network reported 2,426 opioid-related deaths in 2020, a 60 per cent increase over 2019, making 2020 the worst year on record since tracking began.
“(The) numbers of people that are losing their lives because of these addiction challenges have doubled from 2019 to 2020,” said Sudbury Mayor Brian Bigger.
Bigger is a part of Ontario’s Big City Mayors (OBCM), a group that represents nearly 70 per cent of the province's population. Recently, the group put out a call to both the federal and provincial governments to decriminalize controlled substances and continue with the creation and funding of mental health crisis response units.
“I’m in favour of a compassionate response and support for people that are struggling with addictions and mental health," Bigger said. "This is the motion that has been brought forward and obviously intended to start conversations with the province and federal government that potentially would change policy in the future.”
Sudbury already has mental health crisis response teams on the ground, as do many other cities in the province, but funding will dry up in about a year.
The OBCM wants the teams to be mandated province-wide with the necessary funding to ensure its success.
“It’s all about getting provincial funding that is reliable and predictable and sustained for these services that are so much required,” said Bigger.
He said the teams, combined with decriminalizing controlled substances, is just part of a much larger picture that will hopefully someday end the opioid crisis for good.
“We’ve approved funding for transitional housing with significant supports," Bigger said. "We’ve supported programs that will provide treatment. Everything is leading to providing … the basic adequate supports for people with addiction challenges and mental health issues and looking at how we can encourage the province to turn their focus on these challenges and make the critical investments.”
To learn more about the OBCM’s call for action, click here.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Nine suspects arrested in $24M gold heist at Toronto Pearson International Airport: Peel police
Nine people have been arrested in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year, Peel Regional Police said Wednesday.
Some of the winners and losers in the 2024 federal budget
With a variety of fiscal and policy measures announced in the federal budget, winners include small businesses and fintech companies while losers include the tobacco industry and Canadian pension funds.
Gas prices across Ontario expected to climb to levels not seen since 2022, analyst says
Ontario is going to see a big jump at the pumps later this week as gas prices in the province hit levels not seen in nearly two years, according to one industry analyst.
O.J. Simpson was chilling with a beer on a couch before Easter, lawyer says. 2 weeks later he was dead
O.J. Simpson's last robust discussion with his longtime lawyer was just before Easter, at the country club home Simpson leased southwest of the Las Vegas Strip. About a week later, on April 5, a doctor said Simpson was 'transitioning.'
Father of boy accused of stabbing 2 Australian clerics saw no signs of extremism, Muslim leader says
The father of a boy accused of stabbing two Christian clerics in Australia saw no signs of his son’s extremism, a Muslim community leader said on Wednesday as police began arresting suspected rioters who besieged a Sydney church demanding revenge.
500 Newfoundlanders wound up on the same cruise and it turned into a rocking kitchen party
A Celebrity Apex cruise to the Caribbean this month turned into a rocking Newfoundland kitchen party when hundreds of people from Canada's easternmost province happened to be booked on the same ship.
Liberals must now sell a budget they say will help younger Canadians catch up
It's now up to the federal Liberal government to sell a spending plan it says will help younger Canadians catch up to their elders.
Ontario woman out $30K after investing in mortgage company accused of being unlicensed
An Ontario nurse is fighting to recover tens of thousands of dollars in savings she invested in a mortgage company that has since been accused of operating without a licence.
Canada is expected to win 22 medals at the Paris Olympics
Canada is expected to win a total of 22 medals, including six gold, at the Paris Summer Olympics, which open on July 26.