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And, somewhat perversely, they argue not too many people will avail themselves of the services.

“There is … no anticipated influx. People will not travel more than a few blocks to inject their drugs,” said Lynne Raskin, head of the South Riverdale centre. “The focus will be on existing and known clients.”

“Drug use is in our backyards right now,” said Coun. Joe Cressy, chairman of the Toronto Drug Strategy Implementation Panel, and he’s right. It is in our public washrooms, and in the apartments down the hall, and in the alleys outside, and in the houses next door (some of them very nice houses). For reasons both selfish and noble, many who live in these neighbourhoods may welcome these safe injection sites.

There will be lingering resistance from those who believe trying to manage illegal drug use is inherently to encourage it — but then, people used to say that about handing out clean needles. If you believe needle exchanges do, in fact, encourage drug use, you should have a tough time arguing against having a nurse on hand to monitor the effects.

And there will be lingering resistance from those who believe the state mustn’t interact with drug users except to steer them into treatment —an instinct that is, at best, naive as to how incredibly difficult that is to do, even for people of considerable means.

“If people want to stop using, they will. If they don’t, they won’t,” said Cindy Reardon, a peer outreach worker at the Works who was partially paralyzed by an infection contracted while shooting drugs.