Toronto McDonald's installs blue lights to stop drug use in restaurant

The McDonald’s located at the intersection of King and Dufferin streets has installed blue lights in the men’s washroom in order to deter drug use.

According to a spokesperson from McDonald’s Canada, it is up to individual franchisees to decide whether or not they will install blue lights in their restaurants.

The decision for this location was made by owner Albert Crimi.

“Since the installation, we have seen a significant decline in the number of EMS calls at this restaurant,” Crimi said, in a statement.

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The lights make it difficult for people to see their veins, making it more challenging to perform injections.

All of the toilet lights in my town have been changed to fluorescent blue, in an attempt to prevent heroin users from being able to find a vein to use. pic.twitter.com/1Z7cFsqIF8

— Mildly Interesting (@interest_mild) March 6, 2019

“Toronto Public Health has heard of incidents of [the installation of blue lights] via the media. We have no information regarding how this affects people who use drugs,” a spokesperson from Toronto Public Health told Daily Hive.

The overdose emergency remains an urgent public health issue in Toronto and across Ontario, said the agency. Toronto Public Health wants those who use drugs to never use alone, and for people to use supervised consumption services if they can.

“Communities across Ontario need the ability to respond to this crisis and take action to save lives. This means that we need to maintain the supervised consumption services we have now, and to open new ones based on need,” the spokesperson said.