Some London convenience stores are selling foil and spoons for drug users

Some convenience stores in London are selling tin foil and spoons for drug use, a way some argue deters theft of those items and provide safety for those who use fentanyl and other potentially lethal substances. 

The spoons and small pieces of foil, about the size of a playing card, are commonly sold for as little as 25 or 99 cents at almost every convenience store on Dundas Street for one purpose, according to Deborah Marino, who uses illegal drugs. 

"Unfortunately, it is for drug use," she said, noting she uses the foil as a makeshift pipe to smoke fentanyl. "You smoke it. Some people put it in a needle and jam it." 

The foil and the spoons sold in convenience stores help drug users by enhancing their safety, Marino said. Without it people would resort to other ways to get high," she said. 

"Out west, they're taking water out of the puddles at the side of the road for their needles. It's so sad. It gets really dangerous." 

In every convenience store visited by CBC News where such items were for sale, the owners wouldn't comment.

Posts on Twitter and Facebook about the sale of such products at convenience stores sparked fierce debate, with some praising store owners for being proactive and filling a need at a minimal cost, and others arguing that stores shouldn't be allowed to sell items used for drug use. 

City Coun. Susan Stevenson weighed in on a photo of spoons and tin foil for sale for 25 cents at a Dundas Street store with a tweet. 

"How would you feel about seeing this at your neighbourhood store? Is this what we want #ldnont???" Stevenson wrote. Stevenson was unavailable for an interview this week. 

Fentanyl is a cheap, synthetic opioid 50 times more powerful than heroin. Drug dealers began adding it to other drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, to maximize profits. Authorities blame the lethal opioid for the 3,556 opioid overdoses recorded in Canada in the first six months of 2022. 

A former ESL instructor from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., the 53-year-old Marino became addicted to opioids eight years ago after she broke a number of bones in her back in an accident. Like millions of drug users, she began by taking OxyContin and eventually started using fentanyl. 

She said half a gram can run anywhere from $150 to $250, "depending on the quality."

When she does use, she rations herself to a tiny amount, she said, a piece about half the size of a sesame seed. 

"I can only do a grain of salt at a time to make sure I don't die," she said. "You don't know. You test it. You try it. You hope and have faith in the people that you know."