A place to heal: saving lives in Toronto's toxic drug crisis

"You're just trying these interventions to save people but it's not enough because this crisis is structural. We need housing, we need support. We need a foundation to heal." Zoe Dodd, co-founder of Moss Park overdose prevention site.

This summer Glasgow will be the first UK city to open a sanctioned safer drug consumption facility. People will bring their own drugs and inject them supervised by staff able to respond immediately if anyone overdoses.

Similar overdose prevention sites and consumption facilities have opened at more than 100 sites in 11 countries over the last 30 years.

Ahead of the Glasgow service opening, The Ferret visited one such project, the Mosspark Treatment and Consumption Service in Toronto, to find out what difference its community-focussed approach can make.

This podcast follows drug users and staff through a day-in-the-life of this service, exploring its roots in civil disobedience and its ongoing fight for recognition.

We heard from those struggling to cope with the realities of addiction to super-strength fentanyl as well as those whose lives had been saved by the Moss Park team.

Texas, MK, Sarah, Erin and others tell stories of love and loss, and of systemic failure in the midst of an ongoing toxic drug death crisis.

But they also highlight the importance of hope, the possibility of healing and the impact that being part of a community can have.

Read the script here.

This podcast is written, recorded and produced by Karin Goodwin for The Ferret. Additional editing and sound design is by Alan Bryden.

Deep thanks go to everyone in the Moss Park community. This podcast is dedicated to the people they’ve lost.

If you need help or support in relation to your drug use you can contact wearewithyou.org.uk, or if you need someone to talk to, you can call thesamaritans.org or call 116 123.

Please support our work by becoming a member, or giving us a donation at theferret.scot and please share this podcast and leave us a review. It really does help.

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