Toronto mayoral candidate Anthony Furey revealed City of Toronto-branded crack pipes and crystal meth pipes being handed out at shelters across the city.
Furey, who is currently on leave as True North’s VP for editorial and content, held a media event at Nathan Phillips Square Tuesday, “exposing” how a City of Toronto program that has been distributing drug consumption paraphernalia to shelters, including those for families.
At the announcement, Furey displayed a crack pipe and a crystal meth pipe enclosed in Toronto Public Health branded packaging – a blue bag for a crack pipe kit, and a green bag for a crystal meth pipe kit.
Today I exposed that shelters all across Toronto — including family shelters with kids in them — are being pushed by the City to provide taxpayer-funded crack pipes and meth kits and become unofficial injection sites.
— Anthony Furey (@anthonyfurey) May 30, 2023
As Mayor of Toronto, I will immediately end this program. pic.twitter.com/goVoK9Tny0
Furey said an unnamed “whistleblower” alerted him to the existence of these drug consumption kits being handed out at non-profit shelters, a program that the city is forcing on shelters with the risk of being stripped of funding if the shelter’s management refuses to comply.
“A whistleblower has provided me with City of Toronto branded crystal meth pipe kits and crack pipes. So your tax dollars, ladies and gentlemen, are going towards creating crystal meth pipes and crack pipe kits,” said Furey at the media event.
“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.”
Furey warned that expanding drug distribution programs by the city will lead to Toronto resembling big, liberal cities rife with disorder like Seattle, San Francisco and Vancouver.
“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,” said Furey.
Furey said that if elected mayor, he would phase this program out and will replace the program by opening up treatment centres.
Furey has placed a strong emphasis on reforming Toronto’s approach to treating the city’s drug addicted residents. He has advocated urging the federal government to strengthen bail laws and removing tent encampments.
