Drug toxicity kills 7 people a day in Ontario. Why aren't major parties addressing it more this election?

In northern Ontario's largest city, the drug toxicity crisis can sometimes feel like a battlefield, with white crosses lined up on a bustling downtown corner and anxious family members flooding social media for news of their loved ones.

Accidental overdoses are the leading cause of death for adults under 50 years old in the Greater Sudbury area, according to the local hospital. 

It's a similar situation across the region.

Ontario's highest drug toxicity mortality rates are all in northern Ontario: Thunder Bay, Timmins, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie and North Bay have dominated the ranking for years.

Provincewide, the coroner's office data suggests drug toxicity kills about seven people per day on average.

Over the last couple of years, supervised consumption sites opened throughout the province in a bid to help keep people alive, but were recently legislated out of existence by the Ford government. 

In Sudbury, encampments have sprouted behind the building that used to house the supervised consumption service.

Rob Black, a drug user, told CBC it's too bad nurses are no longer around to intervene in accidental overdoses. 

"It didn't help at 100 per cent," he said. "But any per cent honestly helps at this point."

While ideas around supervised consumption and involuntary treatment have made headlines over the past few months, the province's main political parties haven't spent much time talking on the campaign trail about how to best tackle the opioid crisis.

For example, when the major party leaders squared off in the recent northern issues debate in North Bay, addictions, encampments and toxic drugs took up only 10 minutes of the 90-minute conversation, which focused more on tariffs, the economy, housing and health care.

If re-elected, the Progressive Conservatives say, they will continue their policy of banning supervised consumption sites. They propose more enforcement tools and penalties to prohibit drug use in public spaces.

On the treatment front, the current Conservative government says it would continue its $530-million plan to open up 27 Homeless and Addiction Recovery Treatment Hubs — facilities that would provide mental health, addiction treatment, supportive housing and employment programs. 

Greater Sudbury's hub, for one, is set to have 40 spots, with patients allowed to stay for up to 18 months at a time.