CC image courtesy of VV Nincic: http://bit.ly/2GtO8TD
Majority
Approve of Safe Injection Sites but…
…half say they don’t think a site would be welcomed in
their neighbourhood
Toronto, April
11th, 2019 - In a random sampling of public opinion taken by the
Forum Poll™ among 1110 Torontonians 18 years of age or older, about two-thirds (64%) say they
generally approve of safe injection sites in Toronto, with a quarter (26%)
saying they disapprove. About 1 in 10 (11%) say they don’t know.
The majority says their neighbours would disapprove if
a safe injection site was opened within a kilometre of their home
Half (53%)
don’t believe their community would accept a safe injection site if one opened
in their neighbourhood, saying that their neighbours would disapprove of such a
siting.
Only one-fifth
(19%) say their neighbours would approve if a safe injection site opened within
a kilometer of their home, with a quarter (28%) saying they don’t know.
Respondents
that approve of safe injection sites in general are far more likely than
average (28%) to believe their neighbours would approve of a site in their
neighbourhood, and slightly less likely to believe they would disapprove (40%).
Respondents
that disapprove of safe injection sites in general are far more likely than
average (87%) to say that their neighbors would disapprove of a site in their
neighbourhood, and far less likely to say they would approve (1%).
Two-thirds disapprove of the decision to withdraw
funding from some sites
Two-thirds (65%) say
they disapprove of the decision to withdraw funding from a number of sites in
the city, with a quarter (26%) saying they approve.
1 in 10 (9%) say
they don’t know.
Majority think safe injection
sites are effective at preventing opioid related deaths
Two-thirds (TOP2:
65%) say that safe injection sites are effective at reducing opioid related
deaths, with 4 in 10 (37%) saying that they are very effective.
A quarter (BTM2:
23%) say that they are not effective, with about 1 in 10 (8%) saying they are
not effective at all. 1 in 10 (12%) say they don’t know whether they are
effective or not at preventing opioid deaths.
Majority think safe injection
sites are effective at preventing opioid related deaths
Almost half (TOP2:
65%) say that safe injection sites are effective at reducing opioid related
deaths, with 4 in 10 (37%) saying that they are very effective.
A quarter (BTM2:
23%) say that they are not effective, with about 1 in 10 (8%) saying they are
not effective at all. 1 in 10 (12%) say they don’t know whether they are
effective or not at preventing opioid deaths.
About half think people regularly
use safe injection sites to access addictions information
About half (TOP2:
46%) say people regularly use safe injection sites to access information about
addiction services, with about one-fifth (17%) saying they think they are used
often.
About a quarter
(BTM2: 23%) say they don’t think people use safe injection sites for
information about addiction services, with about 1 in 10 (10%) saying they
think they are rarely, if ever used for this purpose.
Respondents that
approve of safe injection sites in general, are far more likely (TOP2: 61%)
than average to believe that safe injection sites are used to access addictions
services information regularly.
Respondents that
disapprove of safe injection sites in general, are far less likely than average
(TOP2: 22%) to say that sites are used regularly for addiction services
information, and are far more likely to say that they are not used regularly to
access addiction information (BTM2: 50%).
A third (30%) say
they do not know.
“It’s true that the
majority of Torontonians approve of safe injection sites in general, but it’s
also true that a majority says a site wouldn’t be welcomed in their
neighbourhood,” said Dr. Lorne Bozinoff, President of Forum Research. “It
suggests that people are conflicted on the issue: they know that safe injection
sites serve a purpose, but they feel as though their community would prefer if
the sites were outside of their own neighbourhood.”
Lorne Bozinoff,
Ph.D. is the president and founder of Forum Research. He can be reached at
lbozinoff@forumresearch.com or at (416) 960-9603.
