Crime rates declined over time near Toronto supervised drug consumption sites, study suggests

A new study has found that overdose prevention sites (OPS) and supervised consumption sites (SCS) were not associated with overall increases in crime rates in Toronto neighbourhoods.

Researchers at McGill University began investigating the issue after hearing community concerns that OPS and SCS locations were being linked to increases in crime. Instead, they discovered there were “neutral to positive” impacts to areas with sites due to a decline in most crimes over time, said researcher Dimitra Panagiotoglou. 

“Overall these sites don't lead to increases in crime, but there are ways of integrating them into communities that are more positive than not,” she said.

The one exception to the study was an increase in break and enters in some areas right after sites opened, but those rates declined month to month over time, said Panagiotoglou.

She said trends in assaults, robberies, thefts over $5,000, bicycle thefts and thefts from motor vehicles also decreased overtime near sites.

The study, published in JAMA, looked at incidents of crime within a 400-metre radius of nine OPS and SCS locations in Toronto from Jan. 1, 2014 to June 30, 2024.

Researchers used Toronto police data on assault, auto theft, break and enters, robbery, theft over $5,000, bike theft and theft from motor vehicles starting from a few years before sites were opened until just before many were closed by the province.