This article was first published by TorontoToday, a Village Media Publication.
The province’s legislation to close safe consumption sites near schools and daycares has inadvertently “dismantled” another key Toronto harm-reduction program amid a toxic drug crisis.
That’s according to Karen McDonald, the executive director of Toronto’s Drug Checking Service, the program that provides residents with free, anonymous drug testing.
For years, the service has allowed Torontonians to drop off a small sample of their drugs at one of several collection sites citywide. The service’s bike couriers subsequently collect the samples and bring them to one of three lab sites for testing.
Within about a day, drug users can expect the results, learning whether what they’d purchased from their dealer contains what they were promised.
Nik, who asked TorontoToday to use only his first name for privacy reasons, said he has used the service to ensure his party drugs did not contain fentanyl — a high-potency opioid responsible for a rash of drug deaths nationwide over the past decade.
While none of the samples he had tested ever did, Nik said that if the tests found fentanyl, he would have tossed the drugs.
Over the past several months, however, the closure of many drug-checking sites has led Nik and many others to use the service less.
Consumption site closures prompt less drug testing
Between November 2024 and April 2025, the program tested 53 per cent fewer drug samples. This is the result, McDonald said, of the closure of four safe consumption sites which had served as the program’s drug sample collection locations.
McDonald told TorontoToday the drug checking service was not intentionally targeted by the province’s legislation, but has been impacted significantly by it. The program currently operates using six collection sites, rather than the ten it had prior.
She said her team is working to secure additional sites, but it’s not yet clear when those locations may be allowed to begin operation.
In the meantime, McDonald said reduction in sample collection locations makes it more difficult for drug users in Toronto to make informed decisions about what they put in their body.
“It’s scary,” said Nik.
How people use the drug checking service
While Nik said he’s used the drug testing service to know when to discard drugs, other clients rely on it for different purposes.
In February and March, staff at the Moss Park Consumption and Treatment Service polled drug users about how they used the program.
One person polled said they used the drug service to understand why they had had a bad reaction to drugs they had already taken.
Another said they used the service to identify the potency of their drugs so they could dose accordingly.
A third person said they used the drug checking service to provide them with information to make more informed decisions about sourcing their drugs.
If they learned the drugs they had purchased had been cut with veterinary tranquilizers, commonly known as “tranqs,” the person said they would stop buying from that dealer.
Among the latest batch of drugs tested by the checking service, of the drugs that users expected to be fentanyl, 31 per cent contained multiple high-potency opioids, including fluorofentanyl — a drug twice as potent as fentanyl.
If a user unknowingly consumed fluorofentanyl the risk of overdose could be higher.
Nik, who has worked for several years at safe consumption sites as an overdose prevention support worker, said he’s seen all sorts of people use the drug checking service.
He’s seen parents come in after finding drugs purchased by their children, wanting to know what substance their kid was taking, he said.
He’s also seen both people who are regular drug users and those who are casual “weekend warrior” types using the service, he added.
Nik, who said he sometimes shares drugs he’s purchased with others, added that for him, getting the substances tested is an important part of reducing harm for the people he loves.
Are existing sites still available?
Nik said the closure of several sample collection sites makes it less likely people will use the program.
Nik said he used to drop off his samples at the Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre because it was close to where he worked and visited friends. Now, the location is closed.
While he said there’s some “shame” with knowing he still could get his drugs tested, he acknowledged he has done so less because it's more of a hassle.
He said he’s spoken to others who have shared the same experience, adding that it was common for people to drop off a sample after they finished using drugs at a safe consumption site.
In addition to testing pills or powder, clients can also drop off discarded drug supplies, such as used pipes, filters and syringes.
McDonald said that many people use the drugs before they’ve been tested, knowing the sample will provide information for the general drug user community.
In addition to sending detailed sample findings to drug users directly, the checking service produces biweekly reports that say what’s circulating in the local supply.
It’s because of this that the service was in March able to identify a rapid spike in the presence of veterinary tranquilizers — a toxic substance — in the downtown drug supply.
While the program continues to produce these reports, there are now far fewer samples to base the findings upon. In April, the service tested just 246 samples, down from 458 samples last November.
What’s next for drug checking?
McDonald said drug checking staff are supporting three organizations to try to access the necessary federal approvals to join the program and start collecting drug samples.
If successful, the effort would bring the number of collection sites back up to nine — only one shy of the ten the service had last November.
Two of these sites are long-time participants — Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre and South Riverdale Community Health Centre — while the social service organization Fred Victor is newly exploring joining the program.
McDonald said when or if these partners are approved remains to be seen.
She said the service is also hamstrung by the fact that harm reduction programs writ large have become “political” in recent years, making securing future funding for the program difficult.
“I almost feel like we’re being overlooked or written off without people actually understanding what it is that we’re doing,” she said.
