An overdose prevention site returns to private property not far from Royal Jubilee Hospital as doctors continue to fight for similar public services.
Plans for sanctioned overdose prevention sites were on the cusp of being implemented in April 2024, when the government “paused” them. There has been no evidence-based policy response since, the group says.
“These services are urgently needed: they keep hospital staff safe, save lives, prevent the spread of disease, reduce drug debris in the adjoining neighbourhood, and they keep people engaged and connected to all sorts of health care, whether that is addiction treatment or acute care, most typically for serious infections that require hospital admission. They help prevent ‘bounce back,’ thus almost certainly saving the system money,” said Dr. Jill Wiwcharuk, a member of Doctors for Safer Drug Policy.
Group co-founder Dr. Ryan Herriot rejects the idea presented by the minister of health that work done previously by Island Health was not sufficient.
“It must be noted that similar sites have been operating highly effectively in multiple Lower Mainland hospitals for years. When one is dealing with a public health emergency, by definition there is a need to act quickly. Frankly, after nine long years, we should not have to be doing this,” Herriot said.
Doctors for Safer Drug Policy, an independent group of addiction medicine physicians, and their supporters set up the site near the Victoria hospital May 29 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Similar sites have been set up at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital every Sunday this year.
