A Toronto councillor wants to halt any new drug injection sites from being created in her downtown ward because she says the existing ones have resulted in a rash of violence, disorder and drug dealing.

Ward 28 Councillor Lucy Troisi released a statement Tuesday, one day after the provincial government announced a freeze on plans for three new injection sites, one of which was supposed to be in Toronto.

Troisi’s ward has two overdose prevention sites on Dundas St. E. and a supervised injection site on Queen St. E., plus the Moss Park site that recently moved across the street. Close by, but technically in Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam’s Ward 27, is a supervised injection site run by Toronto Public Health on Victoria St.

Critics say Troisi is aligning herself with conservative policies and simplifying the issues surrounding substance use.

But Troisi said the “proliferation” of injection sites in her ward is unreasonable and harmful to other residents. If elected, she is promising to bring a motion for a moratorium on injection sites in Ward 28 at the next regular council meeting. She has also requested to meet with Health Minister Christine Elliott to share her views.

“There’s a lot of violence, disorder, drug dealing and drug dealers, and kids are afraid to walk to their local park, people are afraid to walk on Sundays through their neighbourhood or to invite friends and families over for a Saturday barbecue,” Troisi said.

“They do want people with mental health and addiction to get the treatment they need, but they also don’t want to be afraid for their children to walk to school alone.”

Troisi found an unlikely ally in Wong-Tam, who agreed they’d seen “a dramatic increase of criminal activity, assault and theft in the neighbourhood.”

“The concentration of drug consumption is creating a very difficult to manage situation,” Wong-Tam said. “I absolutely agree we need to spread this out and other communities (in Scarborough, North York and Etobicoke) need services.”

All of Toronto’s eight injection sites were approved by the provincial government. They are intended to prevent overdose deaths by providing safe places for people to use drugs under the supervision of a volunteer. Half are overdose-prevention sites, which differ from supervised injection sites in that they have short-term exemption status and are not embedded in an existing community facility.

In Toronto last year, 303 people died of an opioid overdoses.

Mayor John Tory acknowledged the challenges of supervised injection sites, and said mental health and addiction treatment supports need to be expanded “dramatically.”

“I know supervised injection sites are saving lives and I have been relentless in urging city staff and Toronto Public Health to address challenges around the sites so that we can continue to save lives and actively address community concerns. It should not be either/or,” he said, pointing to efforts in June to bolster city services and police presence in the downtown east area.

Toronto Public Health runs the supervised injection site on Victoria St. and said it’s seen a “notable” increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness because of the warmer weather and “significant” local housing challenges.

“As a result, we have increased our security team and are adding outreach workers,” spokesperson Rita Shahin said. “We are still less than one year in providing this new and extremely important health service to this community in response to the overdose crisis.

“There are many lessons to be learned here and we are connecting with our peers in other jurisdictions to learn from their experiences and update our approach as we move forward.”

Troisi was appointed to council in 2017 following the death of Pam McConnell. At that time, Troisi vowed not to use the appointment as a springboard to seeking office in the 2018 municipal election, but she is now running.

McConnell’s daughter Heather Ann released a statement Monday on behalf of the family that was critical of Troisi’s stance on the injection sites.

“This is a complicated and concerning issue and Pam would not simply have aligned herself with the policies of the conservative government at Queen’s Park,” said the statement. “She would have brought together community groups and agencies … Even if it was difficult, they would make a proper decision together.”

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In nearby Ward 20, Councillor Joe Cressy said his office has not received a single complaint about the injection site near Kensington Market.

Cressy said substance use and crime are a result of poverty and homelessness, not injection sites.

“The solution is not to stop the provision of life-saving health care, but to provide treatment opportunities for those experiencing poverty and homelessness,” he said.