May 30, 2023 in Announcements

Furey Reveals Toronto-branded Crack Pipes

Furey Reveals Toronto-branded Crack Pipes

Candidate to City Hall: This needs to stop immediately

NEWS – May 30, 2023

TORONTO – Thanks to the help of brave whistleblowers in the Toronto shelter system, mayoral candidate Anthony Furey today exposed the existence of crack pipe kits featuring a City of Toronto logo that are now being handed out – not just at drug sites but at shelters across the City.

Most Toronto residents will be shocked to learn that their tax dollars are going to crack pipes and crystal meth kits,” Furey said. “This is not just going on at drug injection sites, though: Shelters across the City are now being told they must distribute these drug kits, and basically become injection sites.”

This isn’t just a downtown issue either, Furey added. “This is coming to Etobicoke, Scarborough and North York. Shelters – including non-profit sector family shelters – are being forced by the City to provide drug paraphernalia or risk losing their funding.”

Furey Reveals Toronto-branded Crack PipesAt a media event at Nathan Phillips Square, Furey unwrapped the crack pipe and crystal meth kits that are “branded” with the Toronto Public Health official logo. Furey learned about the true extent of the problem from whistleblowers who work in the non-profit shelter system.

“Torontonians are looking on in horror at places like Vancouver, Seattle, Portland and San Francisco, and they don’t want to go one step further in that direction,” Furey said. “That’s why I will put an end to pushing taxpayer-funded crack pipes across the system. It’s unbelievable that this even going on.”

Furey added that Torontonians tell him they support his plan to phase out injection sites and replace them with treatment centres.

“I’m here to stop this decline – while we still can. We can fix this!

MEDIA CONTACT

Mike Bendixen | Senior Media Advisor
The Anthony Furey for Mayor Campaign
Telephone: 416-951-6397
media@furey.ca

Furey: We Can Fix This!

The Issue: City Hall handing out Toronto-branded crack pipes all over the place

Here’s what’s wrong with the way things are:

It’s straight from the headlines:

“B.C. wilfully blind to the severity of the drug addiction crisis” – Ian Mulgrew, the Vancouver Sun, March 22, 2023

“Fentanyl crisis behind record homeless death toll in Seattle” – High Times, January 18, 2023

“Overdose deaths in San Francisco hit 200 in three months” – The Guardian, April 28, 2023

With a glimpse of all this mayhem, you’d think Toronto City Council would take our own homegrown drug crisis more seriously. But no – this Council actually wants to expand the number of drug injection sites.

And now, it’s handing out Toronto-branded crack pipes at shelters across Toronto.

Here’s what I’m going to do to fix it:

I am calling for the cancellation of proposed new, Toronto Public Health injection sites, and for resources to be diverted to treatment facilities. I will also halt the push to convert the shelter system into one big injection site network.

In addition, I will:

  • join Queen’s Park, backed by all other provinces, in pushing for reform of lax federal bail and parole rules
  • remove tent encampments in all parks, which are often scenes of violence, harassment, theft and serious drug abuse
  • increase security patrols by Toronto Police Services and other security personnel as available at parks and trails, and require drug injection site staff to do regular clean-up sweeps of parks close to their facilities

Here’s what the benefits will be for the people of Toronto:

Safer streets, parks and neighbourhoods. Lower overall policing costs. Less stress on our health care system. But most importantly – saved lives.

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Furey Reveals Toronto-branded Crack Pipes

Furey Reveals Toronto-branded Crack Pipes