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Adam Zivo: Toronto taxpayers on the hook for millions of crack and meth pipes

18 0
30.01.2026

The city's procuring over 30 meth pipes a year for each addict and has no evidence that the program has been effective

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Newly acquired data shows that the City of Toronto procured millions of meth and crack pipes for “harm reduction” purposes over the past five years — a truly nauseating figure. Worse yet, it appears that municipal bureaucrats are not tracking the associated impacts and have no real evidence that distributing these items produces any benefits.

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Late last year, IntegrityTO, an advocacy group, submitted a freedom of information request to the municipal government focusing on the acquisition of drug paraphernalia. In response, Toronto Public Health (TPH) confirmed that, between 2021 and 2025, it procured 2.34-million meth pipes, 3.45-million crack pipes and 14.92-million syringes through the Ontario Harm Reduction Distribution Program.

However, municipal public health officials wrote that they could not disclose the costs of this “equipment,” as the province had paid for it.

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IntegrityTO’s executive director, Daniel Tate, who forwarded this information to the National Post, said that this “truly astonishing” disclosure left him feeling “very disturbed.”

We know “how destructive meth use is,” said Tate, clearly exasperated, adding that his organization regularly receives photos of drug paraphernalia discarded in public spaces, including libraries and “places that kids........

© National Post