Wellesley Institute

Wellesley Institute works in research and policy to improve health and health equity in the GTA through action on the social determinants of health.

Home Publications Toronto Crack Users Perspectives: Inside, Outside, Upside Down

Deborah Goodman

Toronto Crack Users Perspectives: Inside, Outside, Upside Down

Principal Organization: The South Riverdale Community Health Centre
Principal Investigator: Raffi Balian

This study was Toronto’s first ever project focused entirely on crack use. Researchers conducted 17 focus groups and handed out surveys to 108 users to learn why they used crack and how they felt about treatment services. Users most often turned to crack as a coping mechanism. They faced health issues including HIV/AID, self-loathing, and suicidal thoughts. Social issues included police harassment, poverty/homelessness, and violence. The researchers recommend that service agencies work together to increase access to treatment services and reducing the stigma and discrimination associated with crack users. After completing the project, researchers held a press conference to release their findings which resulting in two articles in the Toronto Star.

Toronto Crack Users Perspectives: Inside, Outside, Upside Down

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Acknowledgement of Traditional Land

We wish to acknowledge this land on which the Wellesley Institute operates. For thousands of years, it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land.

Revised by the Ceremonial Committee at the University of Toronto Office of Indigenous Initiatives in April 2021.