A report released last week that recommended setting up supervised drug injection facilities here seems to have faded from the public discourse in a flash. While the Toronto And Ottawa Supervised Consumption Assessment (TOSCA) Study aimed to start a discussion about a harm reduction strategy for vulnerable cocaine and opiate addicts, there’s little indication that’s a conversation our leaders and law enforcers are prepared to have. The ink had barely dried on the four-year-long study, sponsored by St. Michael’s Hospital and U of T’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health, when key officials dismissed its findings out of hand. Despite the authors’ assertion that three T.O. safe injection sites would reduce overdose deaths and HIV and hepatitis C infections, Health Minister Deb Matthews quickly declared that the province has no intention of pursuing the matter at this time because “experts continue to be divided on [their] value.” Deputy mayor Doug Holyday didn’t waste any time either telling reporters he had “some doubts as to whether there is real benefit and whether you don’t just attract more problems,” and urged yet more study. And Chief Bill Blair chimed in that while Vancouver has had such a facility for some years, “issues have arisen there. I don’t know of any place in Toronto where [a site] couldn’t have a significant negative impact on communities.”