Advocates for safe consumption sites are vowing to fight Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s decision to shutter 10 of those spots.

But Ford says the advocates should be grateful to the province after the government announced last week that it was shifting away from drug consumption sites and needle exchange programs to focus on treatment.

Last week, the province said it was closing 10 of the sites down because they were too close to schools and daycares and said new ones would not be allowed to open.

Health Minister Sylvia Jones cited increased crime and concerns from neighbours and parents about problems near those sites.

Advocates for the sites say they save lives.

The changes came after the province initiated several reviews of its 17 consumption and treatment service sites following the killing of a bystander near a Toronto site.

Karolina Huebner-Makurat had been walking through her southeast Toronto neighbourhood of Leslieville shortly after noon on July 7, 2023, when she was shot as a fight broke out between three alleged drug dealers.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 26, 2024.