The City of Toronto is catching some heat after residents learned that it reportedly spent over $30,000 on branded stickers intended for drugs.
Documents were obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) who said the city spent $33,561 on branded stickers for crack and meth kits along with other “illicit drug gear” from 2020 to July 2023.
These were then handed out for free at a needle exchange run by Toronto Public Health, and distributed throughout the city’s shelter system.
“Why in the world does the city need to spend thousands of dollars on stickers for crack pipes and meth kits?” Jay Goldberg, CTF Ontario director , said in a press release Wednesday.
“This is a crystal-clear example of reckless city hall spending that needs to stop.”
Goldberg doubled down on X, formerly known as Twitter, and called out the city’s mayor.
“Mayor Olivia Chow says there’s no savings to be found in Toronto’s budget. She wants to hike your taxes instead. News flash: there’s plenty in the city budget to cut. Council spent $33k on fancy City of Toronto stickers to put on crack pipes and drug kits,” he tweeted.
One voice who has been loudly opposed to the city’s harm reduction initiative is former mayoral candidate Anthony Furey.
“Earlier this year, I sounded the alarm on how Toronto tax dollars are being used to distribute crack and meth kits. Now we learn that 166,392 kits were given out over the past 3 years, and the city logo stickers alone cost $34,000,” he tweeted.
Now Toronto reached out to Toronto Public Health who confirmed the amount spent over several years on the stickers.
“TPH has been distributing safer crack pipe kits since about 2006. This was approved by Toronto City Council as part of a broader report on a Drug Strategy for the City, which was approved by Council in 2005,” a spokesperson said in an email statement.
“The kits with sterile equipment have a sticker to describe the contents and contact information; however, the sterile glass pipes distributed by The Works do not have any branding. The primary focus of the kits is to provide safer drug use equipment, provide individuals with harm reduction information, and to help facilitate connections to additional supports through easy and clear access to The Works’ contact information.”
