A Tale of Two Canadian Cities: Comparing Safe Injection Site Policy in Toronto and Vancouver

• In Event: Alternative Justice: Then and Now

Abstract

Two paradigms widely used in the sociological study of injection drug use are objectivism and social constructionism (Best, 2013). Objectivism understands injection drug use to be a real, measurable and harmful condition. Constructionism perceives injection drug use to be a condition around which claims about its’ harmfulness are often exaggerated or distorted (Best, 2013). This study compares injection drug use in Vancouver, British Columbia and Toronto, Ontario between the years 1997 and 2014 in order to understand why Vancouver moved to establish a safe injection site in 2003, however Toronto has yet to do so. This paper questions whether the differences in harm reduction policy taken by both cities can be better explained by objective variation in injection drug use across the two cities, or by differences in the way injection drug use was socially constructed by city claims makers such as the media, activists, and politicians. This paper finds that a combination of the two competing perspectives is necessary for understanding why Vancouver said yes to safe injection sites whereas Toronto said no. I draw on official statistics, surveys, government documents and newspaper articles.

Author

• Steven James Hayle, University of Toronto