Pubdate: Tue, 20 Dec 2016
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Times Colonist
Contact:  http://www.timescolonist.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Sarah Petrescu
Page: A3

SUPERVISED SITE AIMS TO CUT OD DEATHS

An orange shipping container converted into a supervised consumption
site for injection drug users opens today in the courtyard at Our
Place on Pandora Avenue.

The hope is that the new temporary and limited service helps to curb
the catastrophic number of overdose deaths in Victoria. It is the
first supervised consumption service to open at the end of a year of
unprecedented deaths, the day after the B.C. Coroners Service
announced November overdose deaths were the highest on record for the
province.

Victoria is in the top three communities of overdose deaths, and
Vancouver Island has the highest rate of overdose deaths in the
province, with 139 so far this year and November the worst month yet
with 18 deaths.

"It's completely devastating. The numbers are devastating but sadly
I'm not surprised," said Heather Hobbs, who has worked in harm
reduction with Aids Vancouver Island for 13 years. "I remember very
clearly this time last year when there were a number of deaths in the
community and it started to get really bad. We've never seen anything
like this. It just keeps getting worse."

Hobbs said that despite harm reduction measures such as supervised
consumption services and training to administer naloxone - the
antidote to the powerful opioid fentanyl - part of the problem stems
from years of "bad" drug policy.

"We've done a lot of work to treat drug use as a health issue, not a
criminal justice issue, but the justice system is far behind," said
Hobbs. "Systems that criminalize and punish people for having a health
problem do not work. The whole attempt to keep on top of drugs and
dealers is not working. We thought fentanyl was bad, now there's
carfentanil."

Hobbs said the key is to listen to people with lived experience of
drug use about what could best help them. She noted opioid replacement
programs and access to different kinds of treatment options.

"Abstinence based treatment doesn't work for everyone," Hobbs said.
"We need other options, even non-residential ones."

Hobbs said supervised consumption services are something users have
been asking for. She's glad Victoria will now have some, but said she
and others are nervous given the time of year.

"This is [social assistance] cheque week and a difficult time of
year," Hobbs said, adding many frontline workers are conflicted about
taking time off over the holidays. "There's fear. It's typically a
time when people would take a rest but they want to be there."

At Our Place, longtime volunteer Ross Nicholls has come out of
retirement to be the on-site paramedic for the new supervised
consumption site. This year, there have been about 60 overdoses at Our
Place and 20 in the past month. Three clients have died: one in the
housing units, one at Choices Transitional Housing in View Royal and
one in the washroom at the centre.

"When I heard about this opportunity, I jumped on it," said Nicholls,
who has volunteered at the homeless hub for two years and helped in
many overdoses. "There's a huge need here and I want to be part of the
solution."

Nicholls will be working at the site, which has two stations for
injection drug use, safe supplies and a reception desk, alongside
staff from the Society of Living Illicit Drug Users - who will do
outreach and naloxone training.

"I hope to learn a lot from them," said Nicholls, who often becomes
involved in overdose situations after someone has "gone down." He said
the new site will allow him to look for early symptoms and intervene
sooner.

"This has to make a difference," Nicholls said. "Look at the
conditions where people are using: in the cold, alone, dark alleys.
This is a more humane environment with immediate medical response that
gives a lot more chance of survival," he said.

The supervised consumption site will be open during regular Our Place
hours until a more permanent site is opened next door. Island Health
hopes to have the federal applications in by the end of the month.
Communications director Grant McKenzie said the organization lost at
least one monthly subscriber because of the new service and had to
change their policy of not allowing drug use - though this is limited
to the new site.
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MAP posted-by: Matt