TORONTO — Joshua Orson sits on the edge of a bed in a bright, clean room, thinking about his journey from addict to health-care worker.
The room is part of a new, 36-bed detox space in downtown Toronto that largely helps homeless patients, although it's open to anyone who needs to get clean. There are private and shared rooms, a kitchen with cooked meals, laundry rooms and several lounges to play cards or watch television.
"When you come to the door here, you're given a sense of dignity and hope after losing so much of yourself to get there and I think that's really important," said Orson, who is now a peer support worker at the site. Illicit fentanyl emerged in Ontario about a decade ago as the opioid crisis spread slowly eastward from British Columbia. Opioid overdose deaths spiked soon after.
The province will instead launch 19 new"homelessness and addiction recovery treatment" – or HART — hubs, plus 375 highly supportive housing units at a planned cost of $378 million.Through gangs and organized crime, opioids have found their way into virtually every nook and cranny in Ontario, from big cities such as Toronto and Ottawa to remote, fly-in First Nations in the north and everything in between.
"But I would feel better if the people who needed the service had a home to go to after they left here."
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