By Trish Starling and Alison Symington, on behalf of the Leslieville Harm Reduction Coalition

A group of our neighbours is advocating in the media, with the government, in community forums, and most recently in the courts, for the closure of the supervised drug consumption site (SCS) in our east Toronto neighbourhood, Leslieville. Their opposition to the site at times relies on myths about people who use drugs, rejects scientific evidence about the effectiveness of harm reduction services, and tugs at heartstrings by asking, “but what about the children?”