The drug toxicity epidemic in Toronto remains a serious public health issue. Each overdose, whether fatal or not, has a devastating impact on people who use drugs, their families, friends and many others who work tirelessly to provide support for people who use drugs. There are steps your agency can take to help. Find out how your agency can add or adjust services so that people who use drugs feel welcome, supported and safe.
As a business owner, you or your staff may encounter someone who is overdosing or is otherwise in distress. You and your staff may be in a position to help, including to help save a life. The resources below are intended to help create safe spaces for your staff and patrons.
In response to increasing concerns about opioid overdose in Toronto, Toronto Public Health (TPH) is providing free online training for staff at community-based organizations to assist them in responding to opioid overdose. The content in this training is also applicable to the general public in their potential roles as overdose responders. This training reviews the signs of opioid overdose, risk factors for opioid overdose, and how to respond to an opioid overdose including how to administer naloxone.
TPH’s overdose training is available as an on-demand module and pre-scheduled live webinar. Please click the applicable button below to access the module or webinar registration page.
In addition to directly offering drug use equipment and supportive services to clients, Toronto Public Health (TPH) supports community organizations in Toronto to run their own harm reduction distribution program, by providing:
These agencies are under a service agreement to use a harm reduction approach and distribute safer drug use supplies to their service users in a non-judgmental way. Keep reading if your agency is interested in becoming a harm reduction distribution program in Toronto!
Toronto Public Health directly supplies sterile needles and biohazard bins free to harm reduction agencies in Toronto. The rest of the equipment (eg. cookers, tourniquets, filters, crack stems, crystal meth pipes, etc) are supplied by The Ontario Harm Reduction Distribution Program (OHRDP), a subsidiary of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care AIDS Bureau. TPH acts as the Toronto hub from which all equipment is funneled to contracted harm reduction agencies.
Call TPH to speak with a staff member about your agency’s interest, need and capacity to include harm reduction equipment distribution. Due to our commitment to health equity and resource intensity of start-up, the sequence, and frequency at which new agencies are brought on board is based on an agency’s indication of need, readiness, location, harm reduction capacity, population served, and type of service offered.
To assess your agency’s readiness for harm reduction distribution, consider:
Complete the New Partner Agency Needs Assessment if your organization is interested in distributing harm reduction supplies and naloxone through contracting with TPH.
Provide TPH with a written statement of need and interest in harm reduction distribution. This brief document should include a profile of your agency (eg. services offered, population served, service hours, including when harm reduction supplies would be distributed, catchment area). It should also describe the outcome of your agency self-assessment and include information on the priority indicators mentioned above.
All Toronto harm reduction agencies are required to sign a service agreement with the City of Toronto (Public Health) in order to distribute safer drug use equipment. This means that the organization must have their executive director or someone with signing authority legally commit to terms of a contract. Along with your Description of Need, interested agencies should also submit a letter of support from someone in a leadership position that will eventually sign the service agreement.
To prepare for harm reduction distribution, we recommend that you explore existing resources in Toronto for harm reduction education, training, and exposure. TPH can help get your agency connected. Also, continue to refer services users to TPH or other harm reduction agencies in Toronto for supplies, overdose education, and support.
Before starting harm reduction distribution, your agency must:
Ensure all involved staff complete training from TPH. This training will cover harm reduction and safer drug use equipment distribution, safer sharps disposal, online data entry, and ordering protocols.
With the support of TPH and the Toronto harm reduction community, your agency will then be ready to start harm reduction distribution. Also, as an agency of TPH, you will become a part of the Needle Exchange Coordinating Committee of agency representatives that communicate frequently and meet quarterly to discuss emerging issues in harm reduction and engage in knowledge transfer.
View our slide presentation, Becoming a Harm Reduction Distribution Agency in Toronto for more in-depth information on the process and requirements for new agencies.
By signing a service agreement for harm reduction distribution, in summary, an agency is committing to:
Eligible organizations (as defined by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care) for the distribution of Naloxone will be able to obtain naloxone for distribution to their clients who are at risk of opioid overdose. For more information on the process and eligibility for an agency to distribute naloxone.
International research shows that supervised consumption services reduce drug overdoses, save lives and limit the spread of HIV and hepatitis C related to unsafe injection practices. In addition to supervised consumption of drugs, individuals using these health services will be provided with sterile injection supplies, education on overdose prevention and intervention, health counselling services and referrals to drug treatment, housing, income support and other services.
Supervised consumption services are a part of Our Health, Our City: A Mental Health, Substance Use, Harm Reduction & Treatment Strategy for Toronto.
Ensure that your organization complies with provincial policy and legislation that protects people from discrimination and requires a “duty to accommodate.”