Pubdate: Fri, 09 Dec 2016
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Times Colonist
Contact:  http://www.timescolonist.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Authors: Cindy E. Harnett and Sarah Petrescu
Page: A1

TEMPORARY DRUG-USE SITES OPENING NEXT WEEK

Temporary supervised-consumption services for injection-drug users are
opening in Victoria as an emergency measure to curb the unprecedented
number of overdose deaths in B.C. this year.

Two will open next week and a third later in the month. The services
will walk "a fine line" because Victoria's proposed
supervised-consumption sites don't have official approval from Health
Canada.

"Our main concern is to save people's lives - everything else is
secondary," Health Minister Terry Lake said Thursday. "We are seeing
an alarming increase in illicit-drug overdose deaths and action is
required at all levels."

The province said the temporary overdose-prevention sites will be at
two locations awaiting federal approval for long-term supervised
consumption services.

A public site will be in a tent or trailer at Our Place Society, 919
Pandora Ave., and a private site will be in a residential building at
844 Johnson St. The Johnson Street building houses people who moved
from the tent city on the courthouse lawn and already has "witnessing"
for drug users who don't want to use alone.

A site with a trailer is also expected to open in the Rock Bay area.
Additional sites are opening across the province, including two in
Vancouver.

The province said the sites were chosen because they are in areas with
high numbers of overdoses. They provide a safe space for people to use
illicit drugs, where they can be monitored by staff who are equipped
to respond to overdoses, it said.

"We're going to start off with a tent in the courtyard and will hire a
paramedic to be on site," said Grant McKenzie, communications director
for Our Place Society. The organization has intervened in 40 overdoses
this year and had three overdose deaths at its shelters. It hosts
memorials for those who have died.

Our Place staff will work with the Society of Illicit Drug Users to
operate the site and engage people to use the services, which will be
open from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Harm-reduction supplies and
overdose-prevention education are part of the plan. Staff will
intervene in overdoses with the antidote naloxone, when needed.

"Peer discussion and educating people will be a big part of it," said
McKenzie, adding he will meet with neighbours next week to discuss how
the site will operate.

Jack Phillips, from SOLID, said he's glad the province and Island
Health, who are overseeing the sites, acted when they did. "There was
a lot of behind-thescenes frustration with waiting for these services
and people were about to take action," he said. "Trying to get people
to use these services will be a challenge but with the cold weather
it's a perfect opportunity."

Phillips does street outreach with SOLID, distributing harmreduction
supplies and collecting discarded needles.

Island Health chief medical officer Dr. Richard Stanwick said the
sites are interim measures while supervised-consumption-site
applications to Health Canada are awaiting approval. "We are walking
this very fine line and we recognize it. We don't want to breach the
Controlled Drugs and Substances Act while waiting for Health Canada
approvals."

Heath Canada said it is supportive of supervised-consumption sites
when communities view them as a successful harm-reduction tool.
"Clearly the situation in B.C. is extraordinary, and B.C. has opted to
take extraordinary measures to deal with it," said David Clements,
communications director for federal Health Minister Jane Philpott.
Philpott has told her department that there should be no unnecessary
barriers for communities that want to open supervised consumption
sites, Clements said.

Stanwick said the safe operation of the interim sites is supported by
Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps and Victoria police, who said they will
maintain their policy of focusing on drug trafficking and defer first
response to overdoses to fire and ambulance unless a police presence
is requested.

According to the B.C. Coroners Service, 120 people died from illicit
drug overdoses on Vancouver Island in the first 10 months of 2016.
Across B.C., there were 622 overdose deaths January through October,
compared with 397 in the same period last year.

Stanwick said November's overdose-death numbers for the province will
be in the triple digits and could be 50 per cent higher than in any
other month.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Stanwick said.
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MAP posted-by: Matt